title: Monitoring the inhibition of erosion by a CO2laser with OCT.
abstract: Since optical coherence tomography (OCT) is well suited for measuring small dimensional changes on tooth surfaces, OCT has great potential for monitoring tooth erosion. Previous studies have shown that enamel areas ablated by a carbon dioxide laser manifested lower rates of erosion compared to the non-ablated areas. The purpose of this study was to develop a model to monitor erosionin vitrothat could potentially be usedin vivo. Teeth surfaces were irradiated with a carbon dioxide laser at low sub-ablative fluence to create an acid-resistant reference layer without damaging the enamel. The laser treated areas were compared with the unprotected areas using OCT during exposure to a pH cycling model for up to 6 days. The laser treated areas markedly reduced the rate of erosion.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0758.
authors.forename: Kenneth H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0758.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tom
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0758.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fried
keywords: carbon dioxide laser; caries prevention; erosion; optical coherence tomography