The aim of this study was to investigate human dental enamel surfaces using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques concerning differences between the demineralized enamel surface and remineralized enamel surface by casein phosphopeptide amorphous calcium phosphate, Tooth mousse® (CPP-ACP) and remineralizing oral care systems (ROCS®) agents within the same tooth. For this purpose, 20 freshly extracted human maxillary central incisors without caries and defects were used. Labial surfaces of each of the teeth were divided into four sections, which were marked as follows: Group 1, normal enamel; Group 2, demineralized enamel with demineralization solution; Group 3, demineralized enamel + remineralization agent (ROCS for 10 teeth, CPP-ACP for 10 teeth); and Group 4, remineralization agent (ROCS for 10 teeth, CPP-ACP for 10 teeth). To describe the changes in tooth enamel, the phosphate group concentration within enamel was used as an indicator of the degree of mineralization. The phosphate and carbonate bands in the FTIR and Raman spectra were used to investigate the structural changes in the demineralized and remineralized enamel. Spectroscopic data were statistically analyzed in terms of CPP-ACP and ROCS using one-way analysis of variance. The carbonate content of demineralized enamel was higher than the carbonate content in the other groups (p < .03). The apatite carbonate-phosphate balance in the samples with only remineralizing agent-especially ROCS applied-changed significantly (p < .05) compared to the normal group. The average FTIR spectra of the groups were subjected to multivariate hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) conducted with the use of the OPUS 5.5 software. Nanosized surface morphologies of the samples were compared using pair distance distributions obtained through SAXS analyses. According to the SAXS analyses, applications of CCP + ACP and ROCS agents were effective on nanostructures for all groups.
Keywords: FT-IR; FT-Raman spectroscopy; SAXS; demineralization; enamel; remineralization.
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