Current trends and clinical applications of optical coherence tomography in orthodontics: A literature review

This paper presents an overview of the current knowledge about non-invasive investigations using optical coherence tomography (OCT) – structural imaging of oral tissues and biomaterials applied in vivo and in vitro – employed in the field of orthodontics. Optical coherence tomography is an emerging technology for producing high-resolution cross-sectional imagery. OCT provides cross-sections of tissues in a non-contact and non-invasive manner. The device measures the time delay and the intensity of light scattered or reflected off of biological tissues, which results in tomographic imaging of their internal structure. This is achieved by scanning tissues at a low resolution. This paper aims to describe the application of OCT in the field of orthodontics, through previous studies investigating the development and disorders of natural tooth hard tissues; the paper also describes OCT studies on dental demineralisation and dental biomaterial characterisation. We explain the working principles of OCT and mention different types of OCT systems in use. Comparisons between OCT and other commonly used orthodontic diagnostic aids are also made and the possible future implications of OCT in orthodontics is discussed.