Imaging of occlusal dental decay With 780 nm NIR light

The traditional decay detection methods such as radiographs often are unsuccessful to detect initial enamel lesions that have not progressed to cavitation. Also, radiographs may refuse by patients for safety concerns. Thus, a new technique as intraoral visual camera developed to be useful tools for clinical dentistry, research, and caries detection. This paper aims to evaluate a diagnostic advantage of a new tool in integration with a prototype camera for detection of tooth caries in life images by using near infrared (780 NM) laser source. The results show the translucency of teeth in the near infrared range that offers a non-ionizing and safety to detect dental caries. Our system was tested with numbers of volunteers and successfully detected occluded and early caries lesions without supplementary image processing. Also, the near infrared system can provide details on the precise site of the lesion and also showing the extent of the lesion in enamel but cannot just so determine the lesion depth in dentin. The clinical near infrared system utility, simple design, low cost, and user friendliness make it an active dental caries diagnosis technology, which could aid provide individualized precautionary measures and noninvasively administration of caries and minimize the exposure to unnecessary non-ionizing radiation.