To provide an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) apparatus for a dental diagnosis capable of diagnosing dental caries on the adjoining surfaces of teeth.
This OCT apparatus 1 for the dental diagnosis includes a light source 10, a beam splitter 20, a mirror 30, a photodetector 40, a lens 51, an optical fiber 52 and a probe 60. A filler 70 having a refractive index larger than the refractive index of air and smaller than that of an object of diagnosis is to be filled between the tip portion 64 of the probe 60 and the adjoining surfaces of the objects 91-94 of diagnosis. The light output from the tip portion 64 of the probe 60 is irradiated to the objects of diagnosis via the filler 70, and a sample light occurring upon such irradiation is input into the tip portion 64 of the probe 60 via the filler 70. The intensity of the interference light which the beam splitter 20 outputs by combining the sample light and the reference light is detected by the photodetector 40, and thereby the teeth as the objects of diagnosis are diagnosed.
Shiro Terasaki
Yoshiki Kuroki
Ichira Kondo
Masatoshi Shibata