Near-infrared (NIR) imaging has "great potential" as a safe, noninvasive screening tool for detecting approximal lesions, according to the first in vivo study involving 1310-nm images of approximal contact surfaces (Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, April 2010, Vol. 42:4, pp. 292-298).
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco developed NIR imaging handpieces and attached them to a compact indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) focal plane array. Using this device, they acquired in vivo NIR images of 33 carious lesions on 18 test subjects. The lesions were discernible on bitewing radiographs but not on clinical examination.
The majority of lesions examined were too small to require restoration, based on accepted bitewing radiograph criteria, the researchers noted.
"The high transparency of dental enamel in the NIR at 1310 nm can be exploited for imaging dental caries without the use of ionizing radiation," they wrote.
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