The phenomenon of cathodoluminescence in tooth hard tissues

摘要

The phenomenon of luminescence in tooth hard tissues under the hits of electrons accelerated up to 3keV has been investigated and the nature of luminescence has been described. It has been discovered that the change in luminescence color depends on the place of the impingement of primary electrons. The latter could be explained by different chemical compositions of compounds and complexes where luminescence is observed. Based on the analysis of RGB color bar charts, the correlation between the color of luminescence and calcium-phosphorus ratio in tooth hard tissues has been investigated. Thus, cathodoluminescence can be considered as a tool for in vitro quantitative assessment of tooth hard tissues compositions.