A preliminary investigation of a spectroscopic technique for the diagnosis of natural caries lesions.
OBJECTIVE
To report the use of spectroscopic analysis of dental fluorescence excited with a blue InGaN laser diode operating at 405 nm.


METHODS
The spectra resulting from three classifications of smooth surface non-cavitated caries lesions (dull, shiny, brown) with 20 samples in each group were examined using the ratio of integrated fluorescence intensity in two spectral bands.


RESULTS
All lesions demonstrated spectra which were significantly different from sound tooth structure. As expected, the 'brown' lesions demonstrated a significantly different spectral profile from the two white spot lesion classifications. Dull and shiny lesions had significantly different spectral measurements when examining the ratio of the integrated fluorescence in spectral bands between 480-500 and 620-640 nm.


CONCLUSIONS
This method has application for detection of dental caries as well as demonstrating potential application to evaluate lesions which may represent different degrees of caries activity.
Ribeiro
Adriana
A
Departmento de Endodontia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Rousseau
Christel
C
Girkin
John
J
Hall
Andrew
A
Strang
Ronald
R
John Whitters
C
C
Creanor
Stephen
S
Gomes
Anderson S L
AS
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003732:Dental Caries Activity Tests; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence