The investigation of usage of fluorapatite mineral (Ca5F(PO4)3) in tooth enamel under the different pre-irradiation thermal treatments

Fluorapatite Ca5F(PO4)3 is a kind of important thermoluminescence dosimeter (TLD) material, because the effective atomic number of fluorapatite is close to that of human bones and teeth. In the present study, thermoluminescence (TL) properties of fluorapatite mineral in tooth enamel under the different annealing temperatures with various annealing times were investigated. This study reveals that the fluorapatite in tooth enamel exhibits TL properties. Annealing of the sample affects extremely the TL glow curve and causes a huge enhancement in the sensitization of TL peak. The sample annealed at 1000 °C about 120 min gives best TL peak intensity (150 factors than un-annealed sample) and has a distinct peak around 230 °C. Also, the best reproducibility was observed for 1000 °C annealed sample temperature while un-annealed sample shows the worst reproducibility. Moreover, a good linearity in dose response is observed in the samples annealed at 400 °C and 700 °C.