THE dentist鈥檚 dreaded drill could become a medical relic thanks to laser tests which spot weaknesses in dental enamel in time to repair the surface before more drastic intervention is needed.
Dentists currently check for cavities with X-rays and metal probes, but these cannot detect weaknesses in the enamel while there is still a chance to repair it. David Wang, a graduate student at the University of Sydney in Australia, instead studied whether the propagation of sound waves through the enamel could provide an early warning (, vol 17, p 15592).
Short, low-energy pulses from a laser generate weak bursts of acoustic waves in the surface of the enamel. In tests on an extracted tooth, Wang detected these vibrations by collecting infrared laser light reflected from the surface of the tooth. He found that changes in mineralisation of the enamel which signal the onset of decay appear to cause characteristic changes in the pattern of acoustic waves.
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The next step, Wang says, will be to develop a more compact system. 鈥淭he ultimate goal is to come up with a quick, efficient, cost-effective and non-destructive way to evaluate mineralisation,鈥� he says.
