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Remineralization of Enamel Caries Can Decrease Optical Reflectivity

Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, Box 0758, 707 Parnassus Ave., University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0758, USA; dfried{at}itsa.ucsf.edu

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.

KEY WORDS: artificial caries • early caries • diagnostic systems • polarization • optical coherence tomography • remineralization