2011 Volume 54 Issue 4 Pages 250-258
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 35% hydrogen-based office-whitening agent on enamel by using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Labial surfaces of bovine teeth stored in 37℃ artificial saliva or purified water were treated by the whitening agent. OCT and laser scope observation was done before and immediately after application of whitening agent for 4 weeks. Tomographic images were obtained by OCT and morphological changes of enamel surfaces were observed by a laser scanning microscope. The results were as follows: 1. For the whitening group, the OCT images obtained changed during the test period and these tendencies depended on the storage conditions. The signal intensity from the specimen surfaces was higher when stored in distilled water than when stored in saliva, and the surface roughness of the specimens was also higher when stored in distilled water than when stored in saliva. 2. For the control group, although the signal intensities of the specimens stored in artificial saliva tended to be higher than those stored in purified water, no significant difference was found between them. For the laser scanning microscope observation, the same tendency was observed, and the surface roughness of the specimens stored in saliva increased compared to those stored in water.
