Multispectral truncated-correlation photothermal coherence tomography imaging modality for detection of early stage dental caries

Three-dimensional thermophotonic super-resolution imaging by spatiotemporal diffusion reversal method

Spatial super-resolution in thermophotonic imaging was achieved using a combination of spatial second-derivative forming, spatial gradient adaptive filtering, and Richardson-Lucy deconvolution in conjunction with the construction of an experimental point spread function. When implemented through enhanced truncation-correlation photothermal coherence tomography (eTC-PCT), it was possible to restore blurred infrared thermophotonic images to their prediffusion optical resolution state. This modality was tested in various biological applications and proved to be capable of imaging fine axial cracks in human teeth, well-patterned anatomical subsurface structures of a mouse brain, and neovascularization in a mouse thigh due to the rapid proliferation of cancer cells. This modality was found to be immune to optical scattering and could reveal the true spatial extent of biological features at subsurface depths that conventional thermal imaging cannot reach because of limitations imposed by the physics of spreading diffusion.

Local axis orientation mapped by polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography provides a unique contrast to identify caries lesions in enamel

Due to rod-like hydroxyapatite crystal organizations, dental enamel is optically anisotropic, i.e., birefringent. Healthy enamel is known to be intrinsically negatively birefringent. However, when demineralization of enamel occurs, a considerable number of inter-crystallite spaces would be created between the crystallites in the enamel, which could lead to a sign reversion in birefringence of the enamel structure. We propose that this sign reversion can be leveraged in polarization sensitive OCT (PSOCT) imaging to differentiate early caries lesions from healthy enamel. In this study using PSOCT, we first confirm that the change in birefringence sign (negative to positive) can lead to a 90-degree alteration in the local axis orientation because of the switch between the fast and slow optic axes. We then demonstrate, for the first time, that the local axis orientation can be utilized to map and visualize the WSLs from the healthy enamel with a unique contrast. Moreover, the sharp alteration in local axis orientation gives a clear boundary between the WSLs and the healthy enamel, providing an opportunity to automatically segment the three-dimensional WSLs from the healthy enamel, enabling the characterization of their size and depth information in an intuitive way, which may aid clinical decision making and treatment planning.

Intraoral optical coherence tomography and angiography combined with autofluorescence for dental assessment

There remains a clinical need for an accurate and non-invasive imaging tool for intraoral evaluation of dental conditions. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a potential candidate to meet this need, but the design of current OCT systems limits their utility in the intraoral examinations. The inclusion of light-induced autofluorescence (LIAF) can expedite the image collection process and provides a large field of view for viewing the condition of oral tissues. This study describes a novel LIAF-OCT system equipped with a handheld probe designed for intraoral examination of microstructural (via OCT) and microvascular information (via OCT angiography, OCTA). The handheld probe is optimized for use in clinical studies, maintaining the ability to detect and image changes in the condition of oral tissue (e.g., hard tissue damage, presence of dental restorations, plaque, and tooth stains). The real-time LIAF provides guidance for OCT imaging to achieve a field of view of approximately 6.9 mm × 7.8 mm, and a penetration depth of 1.5 mm to 3 mm depending on the scattering property of the target oral tissue. We demonstrate that the proposed system is successful in capturing reliable depth-resolved images from occlusal and palatal surfaces and offers added design features that can enhance its usability in clinical settings.