From Bench to Chairside: Vibrational Spectroscopy in Stomatology and Oral Pathology

Vibrational spectroscopy, specifically based on infrared absorption and Raman scattering, has emerged as a viable alternative to current biomedical diagnostic techniques, providing label-free, biochemically based early disease detection and precise diagnosis. Potential applications, specifically in stomatology and oral pathology, are described, highlighting chairside analysis of saliva, in vivo probing of suspicious lesions and surgical margins, and histology laboratory-based analyses of biopsy samples. Key challenges to implementation are discussed, and perspectives on future deployment of the techniques are presented.