Vіsnik Naukovih Doslіdžen' (Apr 2018)
APPLICATION OF ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE TOOTH ENAMEL SURFACE
Abstract
The article presents the results of the study of the tooth enamel surface using atomic force microscopy. The aim of the study – application of atomic force microscopy to study the topography of the surface of a normal tooth enamel. Materials and Methods. For conducting atomic force microscopy, samples of a mature tooth enamel of nine third molars were prepared without any disease of hard tissues. Teeth for making enamel samples were taken after their extraction. The extracted teeth were treated with a 13 % solution of hydrogen peroxide, washed thoroughly with distilled water, dried. The bruccal surface of the enamel was cut into samples using a diamond disc. Topological images of the surface of samples of the tooth enamel were obtained using the Solver P47-PRO (NT -MDT ) atomic force microscope in a semi-contact mode with a 1Hz sweep rate. The probe gages NSG 10-A with a radius of curvature of the tip of 10 nm were used. As a result, a number of images of the enamel surface of different scales and a resolution of 256 × 256 points were obtained. Results and Discussion. It is established that the surface relief of the enamel is particularly well seen in the images of 1 × 1 μm sections, which is explained by the multiplicity of magnification. The results of the profile studies indicate that the enamel prisms are not of the same size and that for a healthy enamel, the minimum height differences are typical. The average square surface roughness of the enamel in the samples was 25.6 nm on average, with an average height of 115 nm enamel on a segment 2.5 × 2.5 microns. Conclusions. The application of atomic force microscopy allows us to evaluate such characteristics of the surface of the enamel as: a three-dimensional image of the surface relief, the determination of the geometrical dimensions of enamel prisms, the calculation of the average height of enamel prisms and the average square surface roughness, that opens up new possibilities in research the state of surface of the tooth enamel, study of its structure, morphology and surface parameters calculation.
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