A review of potential new diagnostic modalities for caries lesions.

This paper aims to present a simple overview of potential new diagnostic methods for dental caries. There are several novel methods of caries detection (with potential application to diagnosis) which have been proposed in the last few years, in addition to those that are gaining some commercial exposure and clinical acceptance. For the most part, these methods have been demonstrated in laboratories and are generally many years away from routine clinical application. They include multi-photon imaging, infrared thermography and infrared fluorescence, optical coherence tomography, ultrasound, and terahertz imaging.