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Monitoring Femtosecond Laser Ablation Processes on Human Teeth Using FT-IR Spectroscopy
1 , 2 , 3 , 3 , 4 , * 5
1  Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Napoli
2  Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini”, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, 80126 Napoli (Italy
3  Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini”, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, 80126 Napoli (Italy)
4  Dipartimento di Scienze Odontostomatologiche e Maxillo Facciali, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 00161 Roma (Italy)
5  Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"
Academic Editor: Jean-marc Laheurte

https://doi.org/10.3390/ECSA-12-26505 (registering DOI)
Abstract:

In recent years, the laser-based ablation of damaged or undesired tooth material has emerged as a highly promising technique for improving dental cavity preparation. While X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are generally used to characterize the constituents of ablated surfaces, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) can also be employed for monitoring the changes induced by the femtosecond laser ablation process. In the present study, FT-IR spectroscopy has been adopted to characterize the changes induced in extracted human teeth. The laser ablation was performed in ambient air by using a femtosecond laser source at different fluences in the range of 0.7–1.5 J/cm2 to produce regular lines on various samples. Micro-ATR spectroscopy was employed to examine the laser-processed tooth disks. The spectra acquired from different samples reveal the contributions of the various dental components and provide insight into the effect of laser processing under different conditions.

Keywords: femtosecond laser; ablation; dentin; enamel; FT-IR spectroscopy
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