US 11,737,673 B1
Systems for detecting carious lesions in teeth using short-wave infrared light
Chinmay Belthangady, Livermore, CA (US); Tamara Troy, San Francisco, CA (US); Supriyo Sinha, Menlo Park, CA (US); Daniele Piponi, Oakland, CA (US); Eden Rephaeli, Oakland, CA (US); Seung Ah Lee, San Francisco, CA (US); and Maximilian Kapczynski, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Verily Life Sciences LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by Verily Life Sciences LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 15, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/376,612.
Application 17/376,612 is a continuation of application No. 16/210,288, filed on Dec. 5, 2018, granted, now 11,096,586.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/596,595, filed on Dec. 8, 2017.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/0088 (2013.01) [A61B 5/0086 (2013.01); A61B 2562/146 (2013.01); A61B 2576/02 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for detecting carious lesions on a tooth, the system comprising:
an optical interrogator including:
a light engine for emitting light in a light beam;
a scanning mirror assembly positioned to reflect the light beam;
a single-pixel photodetector; and
a double-clad optical fiber coupler positioned to direct the light beam to the scanning mirror assembly and to direct scattered light to the single-pixel photodetector; and
a controller operatively coupled to the optical interrogator including logic that, upon execution by the controller, causes the system to perform operations including:
causing the light engine to emit the light having wavelengths in a range of about 900 nm to about 1,700 nm;
selectively directing the light beam over different portions of the tooth with the scanning mirror assembly to provide scattered light; and
correlating scattered light signals generated by the single-pixel photodetector in response to the scattered light with the portion of the tooth.