Apparatus and method for tooth pulp vitality detection

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.