Investigation on Enamel and Dentine of Tooth through 1D Photonic Structure to Identify the Caries in Human Teeth

Abstract

In this research, a one-dimensional (1D) photonic structure was employed to study the nature of both enamel and dentine teeth at the signal of 1.8 THz. A simple three layer one-dimensional crystal is chosen to avoid fabrication intricacy. The materials and methods for sample preparations are discussed. The principle of investigation of caries in the teeth relies on the amount of reflected signal from the structure. Similarly, reflectance is a function of refractive indices and thickness of each layer, the nature of both substrate and infiltrated materials, and the configuration of the structure. Apart from this, the fabrication process of one-dimensional structure and experimental set-up was proposed in this article. The numerical treatment is explained here to obtain reflectance, and subsequently, the output potential. Comparison studies on output potential between enamel and dentine are also shown through graphical representation. The output result in terms of milli-Volt (mV) were obtained at the output end and collected at the photodiode. Interesting results were also observed at the photodetector. For example; the output potential of the reflected signal is around 0.18 mV for both enamel and dentine teeth whereas the potential is more than 0.26 mV and 0.31 mV for caries in dentine and enamel, respectively. Finally, it was inferred that the nature of teeth pertaining to the caries in the enamel and dentine teeth can be investigated by identifying the amount of potential at the output end.