Application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to nondestructive inspection of dentures.

The porosity of denture base resins continues to be one of the undesirable characteristics of acrylic resins. It is commonly accepted that porosity of the denture not only often leads to denture fractures, but also may function as a reservoir of potential pathogens. The purpose of this study was to present the first OCT images of finished dentures using a new advanced-type OCT scanner we have developed, and to discuss the application of our new OCT system for nondestructive inspection of dentures. Ten newly fabricated full dentures of outpatient of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology in Japan were selected for this study. Two types of denture base resins were used for inspection by OCT, which provided clear images of all the dentures examined. Internal structures, not visually detectable, inspection, can be observed using this OCT system. It is concluded that OCT can detect nonvisible internal structures in dentures, a finding not reported to date. OCT may, therefore, be an appropriate method for detecting interior defects in dentures nondestructively.