An update on optical coherence tomography in dentistry

While ionizing radiation has generally been regarded as the dominant imaging modality able to provide useful imaging information within the field of dentistry, there is increasing interest in the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to provide unique imaging information relating to dental structures. Significant early advances in OCT technology for medical imaging were undertaken at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts General Hospital.1^,2^,3 The basic principle utilized of splitting, manipulating and recombining beams of light has been known in the world of physics since around 1881, with the invention of the Michelson interferometer.4 OCT has made greatest clinical impact in ophthalmology where it has become the method of choice for scanning of retinal structures. OCT technology was initially developed5 for internal inspection of precision fabricated optical structures and such industries continue to drive the core technologies of medical OCT applications.