Developing laser-based therapy monitoring of early caries in pediatric dental settings

Optical imaging modalities and therapy monitoring protocols are required for the emergence of non-surgical interventions for treating infections in teeth to remineralize the enamel. Current standard of visual inspection, tactile probing and radiograph for caries detection is not highly sensitive, quantitative, and safe. Furthermore, the latter two are not viable options for interproximal caries. We present preliminary results of multimodal laser-based imaging and uorescence spectroscopy in a blinded clinical study comparing two topical therapies of early interproximal caries in children. With a spacer placed interproximally both at baseline and followup examinations, the 405-nm excited red porphyrin uorescence imaging with green auto uorescence is measured and compared to a 12-month follow-up. 405-nm laser-induced uorescence spectroscopy is also measured from the center of selected multimodal video imaging frames. These results of three subjects are analyzed both qualitatively by comparing spectra and quantitatively based on uorescence region segmentation, and then are compared to the standard of care(visual examination and radiograph interpretation). Furthermore, this study points out challenges associated with optically monitoring non-surgical dental interventions over long periods of time in clinical practice and also indicates future direction for improvement on the protocol.