Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026

High-Temperature and High-Pressure In situ Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: October 9, 2020
Assessment of structural changes of human teeth by low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
1Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.
Abstract:
A technique of low-field pulsed proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin relaxation is described for assessment of age-related structural changes (dentin and pulp) of human teeth in vitro. The technique involves spin-spin relaxation measurement and inversion spin-spin spectral analysis methods. The spin-spin relaxation decay curve is converted into a T(2) distribution spectrum by a sum of single exponential decays. The NMR spectra from the extracted dentin-portion-only and dental pulp-cells-only were compared with the whole extracted teeth spectra, for the dentin and pulp peak assignments. While dentin and pulp are highly significant parameters in determining tooth quality, variations in these parameters with age can be used as an effective tool for estimating tooth quality. Here we propose an NMR calibration method-the ratio of the amount of dentin to the amount of pulp obtained from NMR T(2) distribution spectra can be used for measuring the age-related structural changes in teeth while eliminating any variations in size of teeth. Eight teeth (third molars) extracted from humans, aged among 17-67 years old, were tested in this study. It is found that the intensity ratio of dentin to pulp sensitively changes from 0.48 to 3.2 approaching a linear growth with age. This indicates that age-related structural changes in human teeth can be detected using the low-field NMR technique.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Applications Of NMR In Biology
The...
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR): Overview
NMR spectroscopy generates a spectrum where the characteristic absorption frequencies of the sample are...
Atomic Nuclei: Magnetic Resonance
Other Nuclides: 31P, 19F, 15N NMR
While fluorine-19 and phosphorous-31 have high natural abundances (100%) and positive gyromagnetic ratios, nitrogen-15 has a low natural abundance and a negative gyromagnetic ratio. However, nitrogen-15 is still preferred over nitrogen-14 (which has a high...
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
NMR Spectrometers: Resolution and Error Correction

