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

Elnaz Baradaran Shokouhi; Robert Welch; Koneswaran Sivagurunathan; Andreas Mandelis

doi:10.1364/BOE.455117

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

Biomed Opt Express. 2022 Apr 11;13(5):2772-2781. doi: 10.1364/BOE.455117. eCollection 2022 May 1.

Authors

Elnaz Baradaran Shokouhi^{1

2}, Robert Welch^{1

2}, Koneswaran Sivagurunathan^{1

2}, Andreas Mandelis^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advanced Diffusion-Wave and Photoacoustic Technologies, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G8, Canada.
² Institute for Advanced Non-Destructive and Non-Invasive Diagnostic Technologies (IANDIT), University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G8, Canada.

Abstract

One of the major oral health conditions worldwide is dental caries. Light-absorption-based thermophotonic diagnostic imaging is well positioned for this challenge thanks to its speed, safety, and high molecular contrast advantages. In this work, a multispectral (MS) truncated-correlation photothermal coherence tomography (TC-PCT) imaging modality is introduced for the detection of bacterial-induced dental caries. MS TC-PCT provided thorough information about optimal lesion contrast and type of dental defects such as caries in teeth. The experimental results were validated using micro-computed tomography (µCT) including quantitative lesion depth profiles at wavelengths in the 675-700 nm range. MS TC-PCT gives rise to hard-tissue biomedical diagnostic applications such as bone and dental imaging.