Comparative study of human teeth decalcification by LIBS

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Teeth are the hardest parts of the human body due to their inorganic composition. To study them on a microscopic level, it is necessary to create ground sections. This process is crucial in histological studies of hard dental tissues and pulp for diagnosing developmental disorders, pulp pathologies, and forensic odontology. However, the teeth’ hardness makes their preparation very difficult. Thus, dental tissue decalcification is an essential step in the preparation process, during which the inorganic content of dental hard tissues is removed. The most commonly used decalcifying method is chemical agents. This comparative study investigated the sufficiency of five commercially available decalcifying agents by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis to evaluate the most efficient one. A total of 22 analyzed human teeth samples were provided by our long-term collaborators at the University Hospital Ostrava and the Czech Academy of Sciences. Decalcifying agents were 5% nitric acid, 8% formic acid, Microdecfast, Löwy agent, and decalcifier DC1 (mixture of formic acid and formaldehyde). Their effectiveness was assessed by analyzing the spectra lines of biogenic elements (calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus). The results showed that the most sufficient decalcification was obtained by decalcifier DC1. All teeth decalcified by this agent showed extremely low signals of all calcium lines visible in the measured spectral range (245–410 nm), magnesium was detected only in two of four samples, and phosphorus was not detected in any of them. The worst decalcifying agent was Löwy’s agent, which had a comparable signal to a non-decalcified tooth.

decalcifying agents, bioimaging, data segmentation, human teeth

KONEČNÁ, A.; BUDAY, J.; POŘÍZKA, P.; HURNÍK, P.; ŠTEMBÍREK, J.; BUCHTOVÁ, M.; KAISER, J.

6. 9. 2023