Optical detection of dental caries

A system for detecting dental caries on a tooth comprising:

• (a) a first incident light directed toward the tooth from a first incident angle, wherein the first incident light generates backscattered light from the tooth, forming a first backscattered reflectance image;
• (b) a second incident light directed toward the tooth from a second incident angle, wherein the second incident light generates backscattered light from the tooth, forming a second backscattered reflectance image;
• (c) a third incident light directed toward the tooth, wherein the third incident light generates a fluorescent response from the tooth, forming a fluorescence image;
• (d) an image capture device disposed at a position facing the tooth for capturing the first backscattered reflectance image, the second backscattered reflectance image, and the fluorescence image;
• (e) an image processor for processing image data obtained from the image capture device to combine the first backscattered reflectance image and the fluorescence image to generate a first enhanced image, to combine the second backscattered reflectance image and the fluorescence image to generate a second enhanced image, and further to analyze the first and second enhanced images to select a best-contrast image;
• and
• (f) a display for displaying the best-contrast image.