Dental x-ray systems are at this time the best method to locate carious lesions but it is difficult to detect them when they are small. Light imaging systems in the past have shown to be more sensitive than x-ray system to carious lesions but one has difficulty in determining the characteristics of these lesions especially when they are small. We developed a new light imaging technique which makes it much easier to determine the size and depth of lesions on most areas of the teeth even though still modifications on the present setup will be necessary to detect them as easily also on occlusal surfaces. This technique is based on a raster scan of the teeth with narrow collimated light beams. The investigation shows that even the area of small incipient lesions (< 0.1 mm²) can be measured and their depth estimated.

Date Published: 26 May 1994
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 2132, Clinical Applications of Modern Imaging Technology II, (26 May 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.176563

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2132:
Clinical Applications of Modern Imaging Technology II
Leonard J. Cerullo M.D.; Kenneth S. Heiferman M.D.; Hong Liu; Halina Podbielska M.D.; Abund Ottokar Wist; Lucia J. Zamorano, Editor(s)