Scientists Unveil New Way to Analyse Tooth Enamel Using Lasers

A collaborative study conducted by Australian and Taiwani researchers has led to a novel way to analyse the health of human teeth using lasers.

Described in the open-access journal Optics Express, the new approach involves measuring how the surface of a tooth responds to laser-generated ultrasound, which can help evaluate the mineral content of tooth enamel-the semi-translucent outer layer of a tooth that protects the underlying dentin.

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This is the first time that any research team has been able to non-destructively measure the elasticity of human teeth, creating a method that can be used to assess oral health and predict emerging dental problems, such as tooth decay and cavities.

"The ultimate goal is to come up with a quick, efficient, cost-effective, and non-destructive way to evaluate the mineralization of human dental enamel," says David Hsiao-Chuan Wang, a graduate student at the University of Sydney in Australia and first author on the paper.

For research purposes, "nano-indentation" is commonly used for gaining information on the elasticity of tooth enamel-a measure of its mineral content. However, nano-indentation destroys the measured regions of the enamel in the process and is only used to look at extracted teeth.

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Wang and his advisor Simon Fleming, a physics professor at the University of Sydney's Institute of Photonics and Optical Science, said that they wanted to develop a clinical method that would give as much information as nano-indentation and could be used to assess tooth enamel in actual patients while being completely non-destructive.

So, added the researchers, they developed a way to measure the elasticity of tooth enamel by adapting laser ultrasonic surface wave velocity dispersion, a method similar to what industrial engineers use to evaluate the integrity of thin films and metals.

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They have revealed that their approach uses short duration laser pulses to excite ultrasonic waves that propagate along the surface, and penetrate only a small distance into a tooth.

The velocity of these waves is influenced by the elastic properties of the enamel on a tooth, and by detecting the ultrasonic waves with fibre optics at various points, they can determine the enamel's elasticity, which is directly related to its mineralisation.

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In their research article, the researchers have written that they could use this technique on extracted human teeth.

They admit that they have not yet tested the technique on a living person's teeth, and that it will likely take several years before any eventual device is ready for use in the dentist's office.

Source-ANI
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