Abstract
The remineralization of enamel caries can lead to distinct optical changes within a lesion. We hypothesized that the restoration of mineral volume would result in a measurable decrease in the depth-resolved reflectivity of polarized light from the lesion. To test this hypothesis, we measured optical changes in artificial caries undergoing remineralization as a function of depth, using Polarization-sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT). Lesions were imaged non-destructively before and after exposure to a remineralization regimen. After imaging, microradiographs of histological thin sections indicated that the significant reflectivity reduction measured by PS-OCT accurately represented the increase in mineral content within a larger repaired surface zone. Mineral volume changes arising from remineralization can be measured on the basis of the optical reflectivity of the lesion.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
