Quantitative analysis of the degree of demineralization for bleached enamel by optical coherence tomography

Tooth bleaching imparts whitening effects along with adverse effects such as increased tooth sensitivity and enamel surface changes. Herein, we employed optical coherence tomography (OCT), a nondestructive optical detection technique, for evaluation of tooth enamel after treatment with peroxide-based bleaching agents.

Fifteen enamel samples were bleached using 38% acidic hydrogen peroxide-based bleach, subjected to OCT scanning, and then cross-sectioned and imaged under polarized light microscopy (PLM) and transverse microradiography (TMR). OCT cross-sectional images were compared with PLM and TMR. The depth and severity of demineralization produced in the bleached enamel were measured by OCT, PLM, and TMR. Comparison between the three techniques was performed using Kruskal-Wallis H non-parametric test and Pearson correlation.

In comparison with PLM and TMR, OCT clearly detected the changes in the enamel surface after hydrogen peroxide bleaching. Significant correlations (p<0.05) were observed in lesion depth between OCT and PLM (r=0.820), OCT and TMR (r=0.822), and TMR and PLM (r=0.861). There was no statistically significant difference in demineralization depth values measured by OCT, PLM, and TMR (p>0.05).

OCT can allow real-time, non-invasive imaging of artificially bleached tooth models and automatically measure the early changes in the enamel lesion structure upon exposure to hydrogen peroxide-based bleaching agents.