Experimental Study of FEL Irradiation onto Human Enamel and Dentin

Wavelength tunable Free Electron Laser, FEL, was irradiated onto the polished surfaces of human tooth enamel and dentin using the FEL system at Laboratory for Electron Beam Research and Application (LEBRA) in Nihon University. LEBRA-FEL system was so powerful that only 2 mJ/pulse shot resulted in an apparent pit on the surfaces. The pit showed neither marked scorch nor formation of secondary crystalline phase revealed by micro-XRD and micro-FTIR. Optimum wavelength for pit formation on the dental hard tissues was about 3.0 mm. However, the optimum wavelengths for enamel and dentin should be at 3.2 mm, 3.0 mm, respectively. The results strongly suggested that the ablation mechanism by laser irradiation for dental hard tissues might be not the simple interaction of laser beams with water, but complex phenomena, which could not be neglected of the hard tissue components and structure.