Comparison of Low-Cost and Research Grade Active Thermography Platforms for Detection of Early Dental Caries

Active Thermography (AT) has been actively explored in recent years for the early detection of demineralization in dental enamel. AT utilizes a highly expensive thermal camera; the price of research-grade thermal cameras ranges between $10k-$200k. In an attempt to reduce the cost and size of the AT, we recently demonstrated the possibility of incorporating low-cost (similar to$250) cell-phone attachment long-wave infrared cameras for lock-in thermography (LIT). In this work, we validate our developed low-cost LIT system by comparing its measurement with those of the high-end research grade LIT system consisting of an expensive research-grade camera for detecting early dental caries. Artificially-induced caries are created on healthy enamel surfaces of extracted human teeth and imaged by both low-cost and high-end LIT systems. Comparative measurements reveal that the caries locations and sizes captured by the low-cost system are consistent with those of the high-end system. This low-cost LIT imager promises an affordable solution for the examination of teeth, which can benefit patients in rural and underdeveloped areas to reduce health care disparities.

Automated summary

Active Thermography (AT) has been explored for early detection of demineralization in dental enamel using expensive thermal cameras. Recently, the possibility of incorporating low-cost infrared cameras for lock-in thermography (LIT) has been demonstrated to reduce cost. Comparison between high-end and low-cost LIT systems showed consistent measurement results, promising affordable solutions for dental examination.