Structure and Function of Dental OCT

Abstract

About thirty years have passed since the development of Optical Coherence Tomography (OTC). In this period, a number of research projects, particularly in ophthalmology, have been vigorously and successfully carried out. One of the reasons for the success of this research has been that the eye tissues studied, such as those in the eyeball, resembled optical parts. So, it was relatively easy to develop research that focused on challenges these parts presented. However, in dentistry the teeth that are targeted for research are clearly different in this respect from the eye tissues targeted in ophthalmology because they have complicated shapes. In dentistry recently, research using OCT has gradually advanced, and announcements and presentations of this research have been made. Even so, there are no dental OCT devices on the market that have been certified for manufacturing. I hope to achieve a breakthrough that will uproot the status quo in this field, and so I have begun research and development on an OCT device for use in dentistry. I have developed a device suitable for clinical use, and here I introduce the device’s functions and structure.