Patent ID: 8332015

Claim:
A method for detecting alterations on at least one tooth in the dentine and tooth enamel area, comprising: providing at least one light guide and an optical sensor, capturing light escaping from a front surface of the at least one light guide for impinging at least one tooth, recording at least one area of the at least one tooth by the by the optical sensor, and subsequently assessing the image or images determined by the optical sensor; wherein, in order to impinge the light from the at least one light guide to the at least one tooth, the from surface of the light guide is placed on the at least one tooth, or positioned at a distance a, with a≦2d and d=light guide core diameter, from the surface of the at least one tooth, such that light reflected by the at least one tooth surface is reflected at least substantially exclusively back into the light guide, and the scattered light escaping from the at least one tooth is measured with the optical sensor.