The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 14, 2010
Filed:
Jun. 09, 2005
Lin-p'ing Choo-smith, Winnipeg, CA;
Alex C. T. Ko, Winnipeg, CA;
Mark Hewko, Winnipeg, CA;
Lorenzo Leonardi, Winnipeg, CA;
Blaine Cleghorn, Bedford, CA;
Cecilia Dong, Winnipeg, CA;
Lin-P'ing Choo-Smith, Winnipeg, CA;
Alex C. T. Ko, Winnipeg, CA;
Mark Hewko, Winnipeg, CA;
Lorenzo Leonardi, Winnipeg, CA;
Blaine Cleghorn, Bedford, CA;
Cecilia Dong, Winnipeg, CA;
National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, CA;
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA;
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA;
Abstract
Early dental caries detection is carried out by a method that combines optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Raman spectroscopy to provide morphological information and biochemical specificity for detecting and characterizing incipient carious lesions found in extracted human teeth. OCT imaging of tooth samples demonstrated increased light back-scattering intensity at sites of carious lesions as compared to the sound enamel. Raman microspectroscopy and fibre-optic based Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize the caries further by detecting demineralization-induced alterations of enamel crystallite morphology and/or orientation. OCT imaging is useful for screening carious sites and determining lesion depth, with Raman spectroscopy providing biochemical confirmation of caries. The combination is incorporated into a common probe operable without movement to scan the tooth surface and to provide an output for the dentist.