Dental Caries Detection.

In a release on EurekAlert (10/5), SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, states that new research published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics describes a new method to detect dental caries with “inexpensive long-wavelength infrared imaging.” The study’s authors say the “low-cost” thermophotonic lock-in imaging (TPLI) tool would allow dentists to detect dental caries “earlier than x-rays or visual analysis.” According to the release, “The TPLI tool uses a long-wavelength infrared camera to detect the small amount of thermal infrared radiation emitted from dental caries after stimulation by a light source.”

        The Oral Health Topics on ADA.org offers a resource page on caries risk assessment and management to include discussion of caries detection and newer detection technologies. MouthHealthy.org also provides information for patients on caries.