US 12,408,838 B2
Apparatus and method for tooth pulp vitality detection
Cha-Min Tang, Wayne, PA (US); and Joseph Schmitt, Cupertino, CA (US)
Assigned to UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE, Baltimore, MD (US)
Filed by UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE, Baltimore, MD (US); and THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AS REPRESENTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Washington, DC (US)
Filed on Apr. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/304,711.
Application 18/304,711 is a continuation of application No. 16/487,775, granted, now 11,666,223, previously published as PCT/US2018/019164, filed on Feb. 22, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/582,518, filed on Nov. 7, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/461,955, filed on Feb. 22, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0263398 A1, Aug. 24, 2023
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/026 (2006.01); A61B 90/00 (2016.01); A61C 3/10 (2006.01); A61C 19/04 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/0088 (2013.01) [A61B 5/0066 (2013.01); A61B 5/0261 (2013.01); A61B 5/4547 (2013.01); A61B 5/682 (2013.01); A61B 90/361 (2016.02); A61B 2090/3614 (2016.02); A61C 3/10 (2013.01); A61C 19/04 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising:
a handle;
a pivot;
a caliper; and
a pair of fiber optic lines passing through an interior of the handle, the pivot and the caliper;
wherein one of the fiber optic lines is a source line with a connector at an end of the source line and wherein the source line is single mode in the handle;
wherein another of the fiber optic lines is a detector line with a connector at an end of the detector line and wherein the detector line is multi mode;
wherein the caliper includes a tip configured to engage opposite sides of a sample;
wherein the source line is configured to receive light from an optical source having a coherence length; and
wherein the tip is configured such that a difference between a first optical path along the source line and the detector line through a target volume of the sample and a second optical path along the source line and the detector line through a non-target volume of the sample exceeds the coherence length of the light to optically suppress signals from the non-target volume at the detector line such that the signals from the non-target volume do not interfere at the detector line and such that motion within the target volume is measured while motion within the non-target volume is suppressed.