Determination of viscoelastic properties of dentin using scanning acoustic microscopy.

摘要

The bulk material of the tooth is dentin which provides support for the outer layer of enamel. It is important to have knowledge about the viscoelastic properties of dentin in order to develop diagnostic tools for assessing dental disease and to develop effective fillings, bridges, crowns, and other dental repairs. In this study, Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM) was used to determine the viscoelastic properties of dentin including longitudinal sonic velocity, attenuation and loss tangent of dentin over a range of ultrasonic frequencies.; It was found that the attenuation in dentin increases with increasing the frequency between 30 MHz to 75 MHz. Thus, in the frequency range used in this study, scattering of ultrasonic waves increases as frequency increases. On the other hand, loss tangent of dentin deceases with increasing frequency between 30 MHz to 75 MHz.