Infrared thermography as a complementary tool in dental

Abstract

Infrared cameras have the ability to measure infrared radiation, resulting in the generation of thermal images where each pixel refers to a different temperature value. Thermographic images allow measuring the thermal variations that can be used to obtain physiological information. This study aimed to analyze the applications of thermography in dentistry through an integrative literature review. This work is the result of research carried out in the following databases: Virtual Health Library (VHL), PubMed, Ebsco and ScienceDirect. The following descriptors “thermography”, “dentistry” and “diagnosis were used, and 13 articles were selected to compose this work. This integrative review allowed analyzing, through several studies, the clinical applications of thermography in dentistry. Because it is a non-invasive method, this technique has a promising future in dentistry. Therefore, based on the studies already published and analyzed, it can be concluded that infrared thermography is an auxiliary tool in dental diagnosis and useful for monitoring and examining therapeutic interventions.