Measurement of the refractive index of human teeth by optical coherence tomography.
We describe a novel method based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the accurate measurement of the refractive index of in vitro human teeth. We obtain the refractive indices of enamel, dentin, and cementum to be 1.631+/-0.007, 1.540+/-0.013, and 1.582+/-0.010, respectively. The profile of the refractive index is readily obtained via an OCT B scan across a tooth. This method can be used to study the refractive index changes caused by dental decay and therefore has great potential for the clinical diagnosis of early dental caries.
Meng
Zhuo
Z
Tianjin University, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Optical Polarization Research Center and Key Laboratory of Opto-electronics Information Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Tianjin, China. tjictom@gmail.com
Yao
X Steve
XS
Yao
Hui
H
Liang
Yan
Y
Liu
Tiegen
T
Li
Yanni
Y
Wang
Guanhua
G
Lan
Shoufeng
S
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis; D003739:Dental Cementum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry; D003804:Dentin / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D055100:Optical Fibers; D012031:Refractometry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*