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Dental optical coherence tomography: a comparison of two in vitro systems
L L Otis1, B W Colston, M J Everett
1University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, Department of Oral Diagnosis, 263 Farmington Avenue MC-1606, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Objective:
To compare the imaging results obtained with two different in vitro prototype dental optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems.
Methods:
Two prototypes were evaluated: an 850 nm wavelength, 700 microW OCT system with a relatively low numerical aperture (0.03) and a 1310 nm wavelength, 140 microW system with a higher numerical aperture (0.20).
Results:
Using the 850 nm system a characteristic scattering signal was observed that correlated with the depth of a periodontal probe. There was, however, insufficient light penetration to create images with adequate resolution. Improved image quality was achieved with the 1310 nm OCT system; these images had sufficient resolution to allow identification of anatomical structures important for the diagnostic assessment of oral structures.
Conclusions:
These results illustrate the improvement in imaging dental structures that can be obtained with a prototype 1310 nm OCT system. The feasibility of OCT as a dental imaging technique is verified.
