Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 31, 2026
Confocal Time Lapse Imaging as an Efficient Method for the Cytocompatibility Evaluation of Dental Composites
Published on: November 9, 2014
Glass-ionomer and calcium silicate-based cements interactions with human dentine in health and disease: Two-photon
Shara Sajini1, Amre R Atmeh2, Avijit Banerjee3
1Centre for Oral, Clinical and Translational Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK; Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Objectives:
To investigate the potential mineralising effects of calcium silicate-based dentine replacement material (Biodentine™) in comparison with glass-ionomer cement (GIC) (Fuji IX™) on different human dentine substrates using a multimodal non-invasive optical assessment.
Methods:
Cements were applied on artificially demineralised or naturally carious dentine and stored for 4 weeks in phosphate-rich media +/- tetracycline used for mineralisation labelling. Interfacial dentine was examined from the same sample and location before and after aging using two-photon fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. Additionally, Raman spectroscopy was used to detect changes in the mineral content of dentine.
Results:
Significant changes in the fluorescence intensity and lifetime were detected in partially demineralised dentine and caries-affected dentine underneath both tested cements, after storage (p < 0.001). This was associated with a significant increase in the mineral content as indicated by the increased intensity of the phosphate Raman peak located at 959 cm-1 (p < 0.0001). Caries-infected dentine showed significant fluorescence changes under Biodentine™ after storage (p < 0.001), but not under GIC (p = 0.44). Tetracycline binding induced a reduction in the fluorescence lifetime with comparable increase in the fluorescence intensity in both cements' groups within the affected dentine (p < 0.001). Significance Two-photon fluorescence microscopy can be used efficiently for non-destructive in-vitro dentine caries characterisation providing a technique for studying the same dentine-cement interface over time and detect changes. Biodentine™ demonstrated comparable remineralising potential to GIC, in addition to inducing remineralisation of caries-infected dentine. This may suggest using Biodentine™ as part of minimally invasive operative dentistry (MID) in caries management.
