Degree of polarization uniformity for dental calculus visualization

• Published in: Journal of biophotonics Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. e202200011 - n/a
• Main Authors: Hsiao, Tien‐Yu, Ho, Yi‐Ching, Lee, Shyh‐Yuan, Sun, Chia‐Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA 01.06.2022; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Algorithms; degree of polarization uniformity; Delineation; Dental calculi; Dental calculus; depolarization; Periodontitis; Polarization; polarization‐sensitive optical coherence tomography; Visualization; degree of polarization uniformity; dental calculus; polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography; depolarization
• ISSN: 1864-063X; 1864-0648; 1864-0648
• DOI: 10.1002/jbio.202200011

During the treatment for periodontitis, the removal of dental calculus is essential. Previously, we have proposed the DAM algorithm for intuitive identification of the site of lesion, enabling the non‐contact assessment during the operation. Nonetheless, the delineation of dental calculus was still imperfect. To this end, here we utilized the power of polarization‐sensitive optical coherence tomography and evaluated the contrast called degree of polarization uniformity for dental calculus visualization. The result showed that the selected index demonstrated excellent contrast of dental calculus from other normal dental hard tissues. The proposed contrast is promising for accurate dental calculus delineation. The identification and removal of dental calculus are crucial during the treatment of periodontitis. We demonstrated the degree of polarization uniformity as a superb contrast for dental calculus visualization. To our knowledge, it is the first time that the depolarization property of dental calculus be reported. The proposed approach for dental calculus identification is promising and can likely improve the current clinical practice.