An in vitro dielectric characterization of teeth with and without restorative materials

JOSÉ RIVAS; BERTA RIVAS; PURIFICACIÓN VARELA; BENJAMÍN MARTÍN; PABLO M. BOTTA; ALFONSO FONDADO

Tenerife, España

Conferencia; 12th International Conference on Composites/NanoEnginnering; 2005

In the last years electrical impedance spectroscopy of teeth has attracted great interest as a means of early detection of occlusal caries. The method is based on the phenomenon that the resistivity of the dental material is significantly reduced by the creation of pores which are filled with more conductive fluids. In order to have useful results is essential to have an adequate characterization of the dielectric properties of sound teeth (restored and non-restored) that allows to establish a reliable reference. Moreover a dielectric characterization of restored teeth may be useful to determine the effect of the electromagnetic waves on the stability and performance of the restorative materials. In this way the dielectric characterization could be complementary to conventional studies on biocompatibility and mechanical properties. In this work some results concerning the dielectric behavior of dental materials are reported with the aim to contribute to the evaluation of these biomaterials.