New methods are needed for the nondestructive measurement of tooth demineralization and remineralization to monitor the progression of incipient caries lesions (tooth decay) for effective nonsurgical intervention and to evaluate the performance of anticaries treatments such as chemical treatments or laser irradiation. Studies have shown that optical coherence tomography (OCT) has great potential to fulfill this role since it can be used to measure the depth and severity of early lesions with an axial resolution exceeding 10 μm, it is easy to apply in vivo and it can be used to image the convoluted topography of tooth occlusal surfaces. In this paper, a review of the use of polarization-sensitive-OCT for the measurement of tooth demineralization is provided along with some recent results regarding improved methods for the detection of caries lesions in the earliest stages of development. Automated methods of analysis were used to measure the depth and severity of demineralized bovine enamel produced using simulated caries models that emulate demineralization in the mouth. Significant differences in the depth and integrated reflectivity from the lesions were detected after only a few hours of demineralization. These results demonstrate that cross-polarization-OCT is ideally suited for the nondestructive assessment of early demineralization.

中文翻译：

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使用交叉偏振光学相干断层扫描对早期牙齿脱矿的无损评估

需要新方法对牙齿脱矿和再矿化进行无损测量，以监测早期龋齿病变（蛀牙）的进展，以进行有效的非手术干预，并评估防龋治疗（如化学治疗或激光照射）的性能。研究表明，光学相干断层扫描 (OCT) 具有实现这一作用的巨大潜力，因为它可以用于测量早期病变的深度和严重程度，轴向分辨率超过 10 μm，易于在体内应用，并且可以用于对牙齿咬合面的复杂地形进行成像。在本文中，提供了使用偏振敏感 OCT 测量牙齿脱矿质的综述，并提供了一些关于在早期发展阶段检测龋齿病变的改进方法的最新结果。自动分析方法用于测量使用模拟口腔中脱矿质的模拟龋齿模型生产的脱矿质牛釉质的深度和严重程度。仅在脱矿几个小时后，就检测到病变深度和综合反射率的显着差异。这些结果表明，交叉极化 OCT 非常适合早期脱矿的无损评估。自动分析方法用于测量使用模拟口腔中脱矿质的模拟龋齿模型生产的脱矿质牛釉质的深度和严重程度。仅在脱矿几个小时后，就检测到病变深度和综合反射率的显着差异。这些结果表明，交叉极化 OCT 非常适合早期脱矿的无损评估。自动分析方法用于测量使用模拟口腔中脱矿质的模拟龋齿模型生产的脱矿质牛釉质的深度和严重程度。仅在脱矿几个小时后，就检测到病变深度和综合反射率的显着差异。这些结果表明，交叉极化 OCT 非常适合早期脱矿的无损评估。