NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF DENTAL SURFACES STUDY AS AN IRRADIATED TREATMENT SIMULATION

Patients with head and neck cancers are usually subjected to radiotherapy, using therapeutically doses of 60Gy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gamma irradiation on hard dental tissues hardness. Three human teeth have been prepared in the form of discs according to AFM sample preparation and divided in two groups: control group, respectively Co-60 irradiated group. In order to reduce the risk of fissures the hardness of enamel and intertubular dentine was evaluated using nanoindentation coupled with AFM technique. The mean hardness values decreased for both enamel and dentin when comparing nonirradiated-irradiated teeth. Also information about DEJ width, dentinal tubules diameter and depth were obtained. This study confirms the applicability of AFM nanoindentation for studying biological samples.