Caries diagnosis using terahertz spectrum imaging

Dental caries is a widespread chronic infectious disease. If treatment measures are not taken in time, it may lead to a series of oral and human health problems. Therefore, early caries diagnosis and recovery tracking diagnosis and treatment after treatment are very important. Terahertz electromagnetic wave has strong penetration and non-ionizing radiation to teeth, which makes it one of the important potential means of early diagnosing for dental caries in the future. In this paper, 2D terahertz pulse transmission scanning imaging of dental sections containing caries is carried out by a terahertz time-domain spectral imaging system. The experimental results show that this technique can effectively distinguish and detect enamel, dentin and enamel caries because different tissues in teeth respond differently to terahertz pulses. Frequency-domain imaging analysis can also be used to detect dentin caries. Terahertz spectroscopic imaging technology can provide a new method without ionizing radiation, non-contact and high reliability for early caries diagnosing.