Apparatus for caries detection

US8077949B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Carestream Health, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Rongguang Liang · Tucson, US
• Victor C. Wong · Rochester, US
• Mark E. Bridges · Spencerport, US
• Michael A. Marcus · Honeoye Falls, US
• David L. Patton · Webster, US
• Peter D. Burns · Fairport, US
• Paul O. McLaughlin · Rochester, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 15, 2010
• Grant date: Dec 13, 2011
• Expiry date: Mar 15, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01J2003/468
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An apparatus for imaging a tooth having a light source with a first spectral range and a second spectral range. A polarizing beamsplitter (18) light having a first polarization state toward the tooth and directs light from the tooth having a second polarization state along a return path toward a sensor (68), wherein the first and second polarization states are orthogonal. A first lens (22) in the return path directs image-bearing light from the tooth, through the polarizing beamsplitter (18), toward the sensor (68), and obtains image data from the redirected portion of the light having the second polarization state. A long-pass filter (15) in the return path attenuates light in the second spectral range. Control logic enables the sensor to obtain either the reflectance image or the fluorescence image.