Optical Coherence Tomography in Dentistry: An Emerging Perspective

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive, real time diagnostic modality that enables detection of oral lesions at an early, relatively harmless stage with improved resolution. OCT gives quantitative and qualitative information of hard and soft tissue by providing a cross-sectional 'optical biopsy' of tissue up to 3 mm in depth from the surface. In the present scenario, OCT has emerged as one of the forefront imaging modality because of the wide variety of information and the three dimensional (3D) data it can provide. This article focuses on the basic sciences of OCT with its potential dental applications