Optical coherent tomography (OCT) is an effective tool for detecting enamel cracks, according to a new study in the Journal of Endodontics (September 2012, Vol. 38:9, pp. 1269-1274).
For the study, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University visually evaluated 20 extracted human teeth using swept-source OCT (SS-OCT). SS-OCT was applied to locations where the presence of an enamel crack was suspected. The teeth were then sectioned with a diamond saw and directly viewed under a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM).
Using SS-OCT, the presence and extent of enamel cracks were clearly visualized on images based on backscattering signals, and the extension of enamel cracks beyond the dentinoenamel junction also could be confirmed, the researchers reported. In addition, the results correlated well with those from the CLSM.
