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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Sampling and Pretreatment of Tooth Enamel Carbonate for Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis
Published on: August 15, 2018
Effect of biomimetic mineralization on enamel and dentin: A Raman and EDX analysis
Arndt Guentsch1, Mina D Fahmy2, Constanze Wehrle3
1Marquette University School of Dentistry, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Clinic of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, Center of Dental Medicine, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany.
Objective:
To investigate the effect of an experimental biomimetic mineralization kit (BIMIN) on the chemical composition and crystallinity of caries-free enamel and dentin samples in vitro.
Methods:
Enamel and dentin samples from 20 human teeth (10 for enamel; 10 for dentin) were divided into a control group without treatment and test samples with BIMIN treatment. Quantitative analysis of tissue penetration of fluoride, phosphate, and calcium was performed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Mineralization depth was measured by Raman spectroscopy probing the symmetric valence vibration near 960cm-1 as a marker for crystallinity. EDX data was statistically analyzed using a paired t-test and Raman data was analyzed using the Student's t-test.
Results:
EDX analysis demonstrated a penetration depth of fluoride of 4.10±3.32μm in enamel and 4.31±2.67μm in dentin. Calcium infiltrated into enamel 2.65±0.64μm and into dentin 5.58±1.63μm, while the penetration depths for phosphate were 4.83±2.81μm for enamel and 6.75±3.25μm for dentin. Further, up to 25μm of a newly mineralized enamel-like layer was observed on the surface of the samples. Raman concentration curves demonstrated an increased degree of mineralization up to 5-10μm into the dentin and enamel samples.
Significance:
Biomimetic mineralization of enamel and dentin samples resulted in an increase of mineralization and a penetration of fluoride into enamel and dentin.
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