Dental probe

A dental probe for determining the vitality of a tooth, comprising

• a light emitter;
• a light receiver, and
• a pressing member for engaging a gingiva by applying pressure onto a gum when the receiver surface is positioned on the tooth, thereby providing an anaemic condition of the gingiva;
• wherein the light emitter emits light from an emitter surface adapted to be positioned on a hard dental surface of a tooth,
• wherein the light receiver collects light incident on a receiver surface adapted to be positioned on the hard dental surface of the tooth so that an optical path of the light emitted from the light emitter passes at least through a portion of a pulp chamber of the tooth,
• wherein the light receiver includes a first light shielding spacer member adjacent to the pressing member and extends along a direction of the optical path for establishing and maintaining a distance of 50 μm to 1000 μm between a gum line and the optical path at the receiver surface, and
• wherein the light emitter includes a second light shielding spacer member adjacent to the pressing member and extends along a direction of the optical path for establishing and maintaining a distance between the gum line and the optical path at the emitter surface, wherein the second light shielding spacer member establishes and maintains a distance of 50 μm to 1000 μm between the gum line and the optical path at the emitter surface, and
• wherein an apical-coronal diameter of the light emitter surface and the light receiver surface is at most 1200 μm in the direction normal to the optical path.