Design and testing of prototype handheld scanning probes for optical coherence tomography

Three simple and low-cost configurations of handheld scanning probes for optical coherence tomography have been developed. Their design and testing for dentistry applications are presented. The first two configurations were built exclusively from available off-the-shelf optomechanical components, which, to the best of our knowledge, are the first designs of this type. The third configuration includes these components in an optimized and ergonomic probe. All the designs are presented in detail to allow for their duplication in any laboratory with a minimum effort, for applications that range from educational to high-end clinical investigations. Requirements that have to be fulfilled to achieve configurations which are reliable, ergonomic—for clinical environments, and easy to build are presented. While a range of applications is possible for the prototypes developed, in this study the handheld probes are tested ex vivo with a spectral domain optical coherence tomography system built in-house, for dental constructs. A previous testing with a swept source optical coherence tomography system has also been performed both in vivo and ex vivo for ear, nose, and throat—in a medical environment. The applications use the capability of optical coherence tomography to achieve real-time, high-resolution, non-contact, and non-destructive interferometric investigations with micrometer resolutions and millimeter penetration depth inside the sample. In this study, testing the quality of the material of one of the most used types of dental prosthesis, metalo-ceramic is thus demonstrated.