DENTAL PULP IMAGING APPARATUS AND DENTAL PULP OBSERVATION METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the resolution and sensitivity when imaging dental pulp.SOLUTION: The dental pulp imaging apparatus comprises: a light source for generating supercontinuum light; and an image generation device for irradiating dental pulp with the supercontinuum light from the light source and receiving input of its reflected light to obtain an interference image between the supercontinuum light and the reflected light. The light source includes an excitation light source 14 and an optical fiber 11 which is configured like a loop for receiving input of continuous light from the excitation light source and to which a rare earth element is added, and generates a soliton pulse at a frequency of 100 MHz or more. The light source further includes: a fiber amplifier 20 for receiving input of the soliton pulse and amplifying the same; a wavelength shift fiber 30 for shifting a center wavelength of the soliton pulse outputted by the fiber amplifier to a long-wavelength side; and a high nonlinear optical fiber 50 for receiving input of the soliton pulse output by the wavelength shift fiber and converting the soliton pulse into the supercontinuum light by a nonlinear optical effect. This apparatus can obtain an image of dental pulp at a deeper position with high resolution.