Patent ID: 7577284

Claim:
A method for caries detection comprising: (a) disposing an image capture device at a position facing a tooth; (b) obtaining fluorescence image data from the tooth by illuminating the tooth to excite fluorescent emission and obtaining a fluorescence image from the emitted light; (c) obtaining a first enhanced image of the tooth by: (i) illuminating the tooth at a first incident angle; (ii) obtaining, from back-scattered light, back-scattered reflectance image data from the tooth tissue; and (iii) combining the back-scattered reflectance image data with the fluorescence image data to form the first enhanced image; (d) obtaining a second enhanced image of the tooth by: (i) illuminating the tooth at a second incident angle, different from the first incident angle; (ii) obtaining, from back-scattered light, back-scattered reflectance image data from the tooth tissue; and (iii) combining the back-scattered reflectance image data with the fluorescence image data to form the second enhanced image; (e) analyzing the first and second enhanced images to select a best-contrast image; and (f) displaying the best-contrast image.