Transmission electron microscopic x-ray quantitative analysis of human dentin at 200 kV accelerating voltage

Qualitative and quantitative x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy is now used successfully to analyze many features and processes in inorganic samples. When applied to inorganic samples, however, the results are often less satisfactory due to problems of preparation of organic samples, difficulty of measuring x-rays from organic samples, damage of the sample by the electron beam, and other practical problems. In the present study we used a high voltage transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer to examine accurate quantitative standardless analysis of thin sections of an organic sample, human dentin. Based on our experiments we found the important parameters for quantitative analysis were sample thickness and appropriate choice of model sample. Further, we show that the method of Cliff and Lorimer can be used with biological samples at 200 kV, and we show that quantitative analysis of human dentin can be carried out at 200 kV. Finally, we show that areas of human dentin can be differentiated by their morphological characteristics and x-ray analyses obtained in the transmission electron microscope.