Pulse thermography for quantitative nondestructive evaluation of sound, de-mineralized and re-mineralized enamel

Current limitations for diagnosing mineralization state of tooth enamel can lead to improper surgical treatments. A method is investigated by which the tooth health state is characterized according to its thermal response, which is hypothesized to be sensitive to increased porosity in enamel that is caused by demineralization. Several specimens consisting of previously extracted human teeth a re prepared by exposure to Streptococcus mutans A32-2 in trypticase-soy-borth supplemented with 5% sucrose at 37°C for 3 or 6 days to de-mineralize two 1×1mm2-windows on each tooth. One of these windows is then re-mineralized with 250 or 1,100ppm-F as NaF for 10 days by pH-cyclic-model. Pulse thermography is used to measure the thermal response of these sections as well as the sound (healthy) portions of the specimen. A spatial profile of the thermal parameters of the specimens is then extracted from the thermography data and are used to compare the sound, de-mineralized, and re-mineralized areas. Results show that the thermal parameters are sensitive to the mineralization state of the tooth and that this method has the potential to accurately and quickly characterize the mineralization state of teeth, thereby allowing future dentists to make informed decisions regarding the best treatment for teeth that have experienced demineralization.