University of California, San Francisco, California, United States.
J Biomed Opt. 2021 May;26(5). doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.26.5.056006.
It is not sufficient to detect caries lesions on tooth surfaces; it is also necessary to measure the activity of the lesions to determine if intervention is needed. Changes in the reflectivity of lesion areas during dehydration with forced air at short wavelength infrared (SWIR) wavelengths can be used to assess lesion activity since these changes represent the evaporation dynamics of water from the lesion.
The aim of this study is to develop new optical methods for assessing lesion activity on tooth surfaces utilizing the strong water absorption band near 1950-nm.
The time-resolved reflectivity of 20 active and arrested caries lesions on the surfaces of human extracted teeth was monitored at 1300 to 2000 nm using broadband light sources and an extended range InGaAs camera during drying with air.
Multiple parameters representing the rate of change of the lesion reflectivity correlated with the presence of a highly mineralized outer surface zone indicative of lesion arrest measured with x-ray microtomography (microCT). Performance at 1950-nm was higher than for other wavelengths.
This study demonstrates that SWIR imaging near 1950-nm has great potential for the assessment of lesion activity.
仅仅检测牙面的龋损病变是不够的；还需要测量病变的活性，以确定是否需要干预。在短波长红外（SWIR）波长下用强制空气进行脱水时，病变区域反射率的变化可用于评估病变活性，因为这些变化代表了病变中水分的蒸发动力学。
本研究旨在开发新的光学方法，利用近 1950nm 处的强水吸收带评估牙面病变的活性。
使用宽带光源和扩展范围的 InGaAs 相机，在空气干燥过程中，监测 20 个人类离体牙表面的 20 个活跃和静止龋损病变在 1300 到 2000nm 范围内的时间分辨反射率。
多个代表病变反射率变化率的参数与 x 射线微断层扫描（microCT）测量的指示病变静止的高度矿化外层区域的存在相关。在 1950nm 处的性能优于其他波长。
本研究表明，近 1950nm 的 SWIR 成像在评估病变活性方面具有很大的潜力。
