title: Characterization of blood flow rate in dental pulp by speckle patterns of backscattered light from an in vivo tooth.
abstract: Experimental data on the hemodynamics of dental pulp at different stages of caries treatment are given. Observations of speckle patterns in backscattered laser light are used as a measurement method to qualitatively characterize changes in blood flow rate through the dental pulp. The measurements were made by the author-designed experimental setup. Theoretical estimations showed that stationary reflected light from an in vivo tooth contains a negligibly small information body on changes in the pulpal blood flow due to the shadowing of the pulp by optically thick enamel and dentin. Therefore, the temporal variations in the speckle patterns are the only possible way that can provide monitoring of blood conditions in the pulp by using backscattered light. Various statistical characteristics of the random reflected light fields are studied as indicators of blood flow rate changes. There were selected five statistical parameters of backscattered speckle images that give self-consistent data on these changes. The parameters include four combinations of integrals of the Fourier transforms of the observed temporal variations as well as the speckle image contrast. The selected parameters are shown to qualitatively agree with general considerations on the effects of reduced or increased blood flow rates on the selected integral quantities.
authors.affiliation: Belarus State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Brovka Street 6, Minsk 220013, Belarus.
authors.forename: Sergey K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.affiliation: Belarus State Medical University, Dzerzhinskiy Avenue 83, Minsk 220116, Belarus.
authors.forename: Galina G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Chistyakova
authors.affiliation: Belarus State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Brovka Street 6, Minsk 220013, Belarus.
authors.forename: Alex S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Terekh
authors.affiliation: Belarus State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Brovka Street 6, Minsk 220013, Belarus.
authors.forename: Alex V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Smirnov
authors.affiliation: Belarus State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Brovka Street 6, Minsk 220013, Belarus.
authors.forename: Mehrnush M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Salimi Zadeh
authors.affiliation: Belarus State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, Brovka Street 6, Minsk 220013, BelaruscBelarus National Academy of Sciences, B.I. Stepanov Institute of Physics, Nezavisimosti Pr. 68, Minsk 220072, Belarus.
authors.forename: Vladimir V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Barun
mesh_terms: D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000098:blood supply*; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D014070:Tooth / Q000098:blood supply*