Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Assessing Disaster Resilience of Concrete with Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles
Published on: November 14, 2025
Titanium dioxide in dental enamel as a trace element and its variation with bleaching
Tatiana Vargas-Koudriavtsev1, Randall Durán-Sedó2, Óscar-Andrey Herrera-Sancho3
1Dental Faculty, University of Costa Rica. Postgraduate Program in Prosthodontics, University of Costa Rica.
Background:
Titanium is a less studied trace element in dental enamel. Literature relates an increased Titanium concentration with a decreased enamel crystal domain size, which in turn is related to a higher color value. The aim of our study was to analyze the effect of tooth bleaching agents on its concentration in dental enamel by means of confocal Raman spectroscopy.
Material And Methods:
Human teeth were randomly distributed in six experimental groups (n=10) and submitted to different bleaching protocols according to the manufacturer´s instructions. Confocal Raman spectroscopy was carried out in order to identify and quantify the presence of titanium dioxide molecules in enamel prior to and during whitening. Statistical analysis included repeated measures analysis of variance (p≤0.05) and Bonferroni pairwise comparisons.
Results:
Titanium dioxide concentration was negatively affected by the longer bleaching protocols (at-home bleaching gels). All in-office whitening products increased significantly the studied molecule (p≤0,05).
Conclusions:
All dental specimens depicted the presence of titanium dioxide as a trace element in dental enamel. Bleaching gels that have to be applied at higher concentrations but for shorter periods of time increase the concentration of titanium dioxide, whilst at-home whitening gels used for longer periods of time despite the lower concentration caused a loss in titanium. Key words:Bleaching, whitening, hydrogen peroxide, carbamide peroxide, Raman spectroscopy, titanium dioxide.
Related Concept Videos
Elements and Compounds
Elements
Elements are classified as atomic or molecular based on the nature of their basic units. They are unique forms of matter with specific chemical and physical properties that cannot break down into smaller substances by ordinary chemical reactions. There...
What is Variation?
The range, standard deviation, standard error, and variance are the different measures of variation.
Range: The range is the difference between its maximum and...
Elements: Chemical Symbols and Isotopes
Some symbols are derived from the common English name of the element; others are abbreviations of the name in another language — Latin, Greek or German. For example, the symbol for aluminum (common name)...
The Periodic Table and Organismal Elements
Periodic Classification of the Elements
Classification of Elements and Compounds
Compounds are pure substances composed of two or more elements in fixed, definite proportions. Compounds are classified as ionic or molecular (covalent) based on the bonds...

