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Probing the micro- and nanoscopic properties of dental materials using infrared spectroscopy: A proof-of-principle study
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2023-09-15
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Beddoe, Max
Gölz, Thorsten
Barkey, Martin
Bau, Enrico
Godejohann, Matthias
Keilmann, Fritz
Moldovan, Marioara
Prodan, Doina
Ilie, Nicoleta
Journal
Volume
168
Start Page
309
End Page
322
Citation
Acta Biomaterialia 168: 309-322 (2023)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
ISSN
17427061
The preservation of oral health over a person's lifespan is a key factor for a high quality of life. Sustaining oral health requires high-end dental materials with a plethora of attributes such as durability, non-toxicity and ease of application. The combination of different requirements leads to increasing miniaturization and complexity of the material components such as the composite and adhesives, which makes the precise characterization of the material blend challenging. Here, we demonstrate how modern IR spectroscopy and imaging from the micro- to the nanoscale can provide insights on the chemical composition of the different material sections of a dental filling. We show how the recorded IR-images can be used for a fast and non-destructive porosity determination of the studied adhesive. Furthermore, the nanoscale study allows precise assessment of glass cluster structures and distribution within their characteristic organically modified ceramic (ORMOCER) matrix and an assessment of the interface between the composite and adhesive material. For the study we used a Fourier-Transform-IR (FTIR) microscope and a quantum cascade laser-based IR-microscope (QCL-IR) for the microscale analysis and a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) for the nanoscale analysis. The paper ends with an in-depth discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the different imaging methods to give the reader a clear picture for which scientific question the microscopes are best suited for. Statement of significance: Modern resin-based composites for dental restoration are complex multi-compound materials. In order to improve these high-end materials, it is important to investigate the molecular composition and morphology of the different parts. An emergent method to characterize these materials is infrared spectroscopic imaging, which combines the strength of infrared spectroscopy and an imaging approach known from optical microscopy. In this work, three state of the art methods are compared for investigating a dental filling including FTIR- and quantum cascade laser IR-imaging microscopy for the microscale and scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy for the nanoscale.
Subjects
Adhesives
Dental resin composites
FTIR
Infrared spectroscopy
Near-field microscopy
QCL-IR
DDC Class
600: Technology