The Relationship of Dehydration Rate and Transparent Surface Layer Thickness for Coronal Lesions on Extracted Teeth

摘要

Transparent remineralized surface zones found on natural caries lesions may reduce the permeability to waterand plaque generated acids. Near-IR (NIR) reflectance imaging coupled with dehydration can be used to measurechanges in the fluid permeability of lesions in enamel and dentin. Previous work demonstrated a negativeassociation between the surface zone thickness and the rate of dehydration in simulated enamel lesions. In thisstudy, the rates of dehydration and thickness of transparent surface layer of coronal lesions of extracted teethwere measured and correlated. Reflectance imaging at NIR wavelengths from 1695-1750 nm, which coincideswith higher water absorption and manifests the greatest sensitivity to contrast changes during dehydrationmeasurements, was used to image these enamel lesions. The remineralized surface layer thickness wasdetermined using optical coherence tomography (OCT).