Early Caries Detection with Near-IR Light

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的总体目标是开发用于检测和诊断早期龋齿（龋齿）的非侵入性光学设备。需要新的、更复杂的诊断工具来检测和表征早期发育阶段的龋齿病变。如果足够早地检测到龋损，则可以通过氟化物疗法、抗菌疗法、饮食改变或通过低强度激光照射的非手术手段来阻止/逆转龋损。限制在400-700-nm的可见光范围内通过牙齿的牙釉质的光学成像的主要因素是光散射。在健康的牙釉质和牙本质中的光散射在可见光范围内足够强，以掩盖通过牙齿的光透射。随着波长的增加，牙釉质中的光散射的幅度显著减小。因此，我们认为，在1310-nm的近红外区域提供了最大的潜力，新的光学成像方式，由于弱散射和吸收声音牙齿硬组织。在较长的波长下，组织中的水的吸收显著增加，从而减少IR光的穿透。本申请的总体目标将通过以下具体目的实现：1）检验近红外偏振敏感光学相干断层扫描（PS-OCT）可用于准确评估体内自然咬合损伤的深度和严重程度的假设。2)为了验证这一假设，近红外（NIR）成像系统在1310-nm工作，可用于获取高对比度图像的邻间和咬合面龋病变在体内。如果这些研究和未来的临床试验取得成功，这些用于成像牙齿硬组织的新技术将被用于在不使用电离辐射的情况下检测和监测早期龋损，从而能够进行保守的非手术干预和保护健康的组织结构。此外，这是可能的，这种提出的成像技术将使临床医生能够检测和量化的严重程度，咬合损伤是无法解决的与传统的放射线照相术，由于周围的声音组织结构。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of the proposed research is to develop non-invasive optical devices for the detection and diagnosis of early Dental caries (dental decay). New, more sophisticated diagnostic tools are needed for the detection and characterization of caries lesions in the early stages of development. If carious lesions are detected early enough, they can be arrested/reversed by non-surgical means through fluoride therapy, anti- bacterial therapy, dietary changes, or by low intensity laser irradiation. The principal factor limiting optical imaging through the enamel of the tooth in the visible range of 400-700-nm is light scattering. Light scattering in sound enamel and dentin is sufficiently strong in the visible range to obscure light transmission through the tooth. The magnitude of light scattering in Dental enamel decreases markedly with increasing wavelength. Therefore, we posit that the near-IR region at 1310-nm offers the greatest potential for new optical imaging modalities due to the weak scattering and absorption in sound Dental hard tissue. At longer wavelengths, absorption of water in the tissue increases markedly reducing the penetration of IR light. The overall objective of this application will be achieved through the following Specific Aims: 1) to test the hypothesis that near-IR polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) can be used for the accurate assessment of the depth and severity of natural occlusal lesions in vivo. 2) To test the hypothesis that a near-IR (NIR) imaging system operating at 1310-nm can be used to acquire high-contrast images of interproximal and occlusal caries lesions in vivo. It is likely that if these studies and future clinical trials are a success, that these novel technologies for imaging Dental hard tissue will be employed for the detection and monitoring of early carious lesions without the use of ionizing radiation, thereby enabling conservative non- surgical intervention and the preservation of healthy tissue structure. Moreover, it is probable that this proposed imaging technology would enable the clinician to detect and quantify the severity of occlusal lesions that are not resolvable with conventional radiography due to the surrounding sound tissue structure.