A fundamental understanding of how near-IR light propagates through sound and carious dental hard tissues is essential for the development of clinically useful optical diagnostic systems, since image contrast is based on changes in the optical properties of these tissues on demineralization. During the caries (decay) process, micropores are formed in the lesion due to partial dissolution of the individual mineral crystals. Such small pores behave as scattering centers, strongly scattering visible and near-IR light. The optical properties of enamel can be quantitatively described by the absorption and scattering coefficients, and the scattering phase function. Our aim is to measure the optical scattering behavior of natural and artificial enamel caries. Near-IR attenuation measurements and angular-resolved goniometer measurements coupled with Monte Carlo simulations are used to determine changes in the scattering coefficient and the scattering anisotropy on demineralization at 1310 nm. An ultra-high resolution digital microradiography system is used to quantify the lesion severity by measurement of the relative mineral loss for comparison with optical scattering measurements. The scattering coefficient increases exponentially with increasing mineral loss. Natural and artificial demineralization increases the scattering coefficient more than two orders of magnitude at 1310 nm, and the scattering is highly forward directed.

New imaging technologies are needed for the early detection of dental caries (decay) in the interproximal contact sites between teeth. Previous measurements have demonstrated that dental enamel is highly transparent in the near-IR at 1300-nm. In this study, a near-IR imaging system operating at 1300-nm was used to acquire images through tooth sections of varying thickness and whole teeth in order to demonstrate the utility of a near-IR dental transillumination system for the imaging of early dental caries (decay). Simulated lesions, which model the optical scattering of natural dental caries, were placed in plano-parallel dental enamel sections. The contrast ratio between the simulated lesions and surrounding sound enamel was calculated from analysis of acquired projection images. The results show significant contrast between the lesion and the enamel (>0.35) and a spatial line profile that clearly resolves the lesion in samples as thick as 6.75-mm. This study clearly demonstrates that a near-IR transillumination system has considerable potential for the imaging of early dental decay.

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