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Dental Caries, or tooth decay, is
one of the most common human disorders. Caries is inititated
as localized destruction of the outside layer of a
tooth called the enamel. Acids in the plaque deposits
adhering to teeth cause erosion, known as dimineralization.
Caries proceeds by the creation of a subsurface lesion
in the enamel. The lesion may extend to the next tissue
layer in teeth, the dentine, without macroscopically
visible breakdown or even microcavity formation at
the tooth surface. The absence of visual features on
the tooth surface makes early detection of tooth decay
difficult. X-rays, one of the accepted methods used
to detect decay, only reveals the problem at a relatively
late stage, when drilling and filling is the only method
available to halt the decay. If decay can be detected
early enough it is possible to reverse the process
without the need for drilling by the use of either
fissure sealing or remineralization.
TeraView’s TPI™ is able
to distinguish between the different types of tissue
in a human tooth; detect caries at an early stage in
the enamel layers of human teeth and monitor early
erosion of the enamel at the surface of the tooth.
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