Photoacoustic diagnosis of human teeth using interferometric detection scheme

We have investigated the mechanical and acoustic properties of human teeth using the laser generation of surface acoustic wave (SAW) technique. The materials investigated included normal and decayed teeth, which have similar grain sizes and different thicknesses. The tissue responds to the laser-induced stress by thermoelastic expansion. The informative features of this method allow one to determine sample thermal, optical, and acoustical properties that depend on the peculiarities of the sample compositional structure. An interferometric detection experimental scheme is applied for detection generated SAW pulses. The surface displacement curves shape of normal and decayed human teeth are shown. The dispersion curves for SAW pulses were determined by Fourier analysis. The result is an almost linear dependence of SAW velocity on frequency for a normal tooth, the magnitude of the thermoelastic expansion of the normal tooth reaches its peak at 0.344 μs, a SAW phase velocity of 2500 ms−1 between 0.0008 and 5 MHz was determined. For abnormal teeth, the magnitude of thermoelastic expansion of the normal tooth reaches its peak at 1.3 μs, the measured velocity was 3225 ms−1. Due to the inhomogeneity of abnormal teeth perpendicular to the propagation direction, strong differences in their dispersion curves were obtained. The detection of acoustic waves is the basis of photoacoustic methods, which can be used for diagnostic purposes.