Patent ID: 8738116

Claim:
A method for obtaining data regarding a state of periodontal tissue, the method comprising: obtaining from the periodontal tissue, spectral absorption data of at least part of an infrared spectrum by illuminating the tissue with light of at least two wavelengths within a spectral range of a spectral component, and determining absorption values of each of the at least two wavelengths; identifying from the data a bandshape of the spectral component attributed to water; and deriving a substantially whole curve measure of the bandshape that varies with a state of the water molecules in the band other than a peak amplitude or integral of the bandshape, to provide an indicator of a disease state of the tissue other than a hydration index; wherein identifying the bandshape of the spectral component attributed to water further comprises fitting the absorption values to one of a plurality of known curves for the spectral components to extrapolate the bandshape from the absorption data; and wherein deriving the substantially whole curve measure comprises identifying the indicator of the condition of the tissue according to a measure of fit of the absorption values to the known curves.