Determination of optical properties in dental restorative biomaterials using the inverse-adding-doubling method

Abstract

Light propagation in biological media is characterized by the absorption coefficient, the scattering coefficient, the scattering phase function, the refractive index, and the surface conditions (roughness). By means of the inverse-adding-doubling (IAD) method, transmittance and reflectance measurements lead to the determination of the absorption coefficient and the reduced scattering coefficient. The additional measurement of the phase function performed by goniometry allows the separation of the reduced scattering coefficient into the scattering coefficient and the scattering anisotropy factor. The majority of techniques, such as the one utilized in this work, involve the use of integrating spheres to measure total transmission and reflection. We have employed an integrating sphere setup to measure the total transmittance and reflectance of dental biomaterials used in restorative dentistry. Dental biomaterials are meant to replace dental tissues, such as enamel and dentine, in irreversibly diseased teeth. In previous works we performed goniometric measurements in order to evaluate the scattering anisotropy factor for these kinds of materials. In the present work we have used the IAD method to combine the measurements performed using the integrating sphere setup with the results of the previous goniometric measurements. The aim was to optically characterize the dental biomaterials analyzed, since whole studies to assess the appropriate material properties are required in medical applications. In this context, complete optical characterizations play an important role in achieving the fulfillment of optimal quality and the final success of dental biomaterials used in restorative dentistry.