Abstract
This study deals with a noninvasive method for estimating hemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation from reflectance spectra of a gingival model and dog gingiva by tissue reflectance spectrophotometry. The index of hemoglobin concentration (Hb index) and the index of oxygen saturation (HbSO2 index) were measured from the spectra of the gingival model and dog gingiva. In both the in vitro and in vivo experiments, the Hb index was positively correlated with hemoglobin concentration, and the relationship between HbSO2 index and PO2 appeared as a sigmoid curve resembling hemoglobin oxygen dissociation curve. These results suggest that the tissue reflectance spectrophotometry could be applied to the gingiva in vivo to estimate hemodynamics and oxygen sufficiency in gingiva.
