PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and visually recognize peripheral parts of teeth without affecting image quality of a fluorescence image obtained by imaging faint fluorescence from a lesion part such as caries in the teeth.SOLUTION: A teeth observation device 1 includes a light illumination section 3 that irradiates the teeth A with excitation light, a light detecting section 4 that is provided separately from the light illumination section 3 and that detects light from the teeth A, and a control section 5. The light detecting section 4 comprises: a near-infrared light illumination section 15 that applies near-infrared light for external observation with a wavelength longer than the wavelength of the excitation light toward the teeth A an illumination light detecting section 16 that detects the excitation light and that does not detect the near-infrared light for external observation an excitation light cut filter 13 that blocks light in a band of wavelength equal to/shorter than the wavelength of the excitation light, included in the light from the teeth A, and that transmits the fluorescence generated from a fluorescence probe and the near-infrared light for external observation and an imaging section 14 that images the fluorescence and the near-infrared light for external observation. The control section 5 stops irradiation from the near-infrared light illumination section 15 when the illumination light detecting section 16 detects the excitation light.COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&INPIT【課題】歯牙に存在するう蝕等の病変部からの微弱な蛍光を撮影して得られる蛍光画像の画質に影響を与えることなく、歯牙周辺部を容易に視認する。【解決手段】励起光を歯牙Aに照射させる光照射部3と、該光照射部3とは別体に設けられ、歯牙Aからの光を検出する光検出部4と、制御部5とを備え、光検出部4に、励起光より長波長の外部観察用近赤外光を歯牙Aに向けて照射する近赤外光照射部15と、励起光を検出し外部観察用近赤外光を検出しない照射光検出部16と、歯牙Aからの光の内、励起光の波長以下の波長帯域の光を遮断し、蛍光プローブから発生する蛍光および外部観察用近赤外光を透過させる励起光カットフィルタ13と、蛍光および外部観察用近赤外光を撮影する撮像部14とを備え、制御部5は、照射光検出部16が励起光を検出したときに近赤外光照射部15からの照射を停止する歯牙観察装置1を提供する。【選択図】図1
