Dental optical coherence tomography: new potential diagnostic system for cracked-tooth syndrome

Purpose The aim of the present study was to determine the reliability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in detecting cracked teeth and its relative clinical effectiveness by comparing it with other diagnostic methods including conventional visual inspection, trans-illumination, and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Methods The reliability of swept source OCT (SS-OCT) was verified by comparing the number of detected crack lines on 109 surfaces of 61 teeth with those detected with other conventional methods. Results One to one comparison revealed that crack lines that were invisible with naked eyes could be found in SS-OCT images. The detection ability of SS-OCT was superior or similar to those of micro-CT (100.0 %) and trans-illumination. Conclusions Crack lines shown in the SS-OCT images had distinct characteristics, and structural crack lines and craze lines could be distinguished in SS-OCT images. Thus, the detection ability of SS-OCT renders it an acceptable diagnostic device for cracked-tooth syndrome.