Theoretical Analysis of Dental Demineralization using Photothermal Radiometry

摘要

A coupled diffuse-photon-density-wave and thermal-wave theoretical model was developed to describe the biothermophotonic phenomena in a turbid medium under photothermal radiometry experimental conditions. The solution of the radiative transport equation in the limit of the diffuse-photon-density field was considered as a source term in the thermal-wave field equation. The model was used to analyze laser induced photothermal phenomena in a demineralized tooth sample as a function of depth. The analysis is based on a three-layer approach (demineralized enamel + healthy enamel + dentin) and considering the influence of thermal and optical properties of each layer on the resulting optical and thermal field.