Fractal Structure of Caries

Abstract

Between 1991 and 1993, the data of 479 clinical records were compiled about caries in the permanent teeth of subjects of both sexes, whose dental examinations were carried out in a private dental clinic in the city of Salamanca and who were distributed by age into groups of 16–65, 26–55 and 36–15 years. Using the method known as system of expansion-contraction, we showed that caries has a non-linear dynamic, whose evolution in time is difficult to predict and which has a fractal geometry. This study shows the fractal geometry of caries and to achieve this uses a little-known method which will be of great use in future research.

Digital imaging of patterns of dental wear to diagnose bruxism in children

“…The fractal dimension can be a complementary diagnostic method as it is not affected by the region evaluated or the projection in the image acquisition. Because of this property, it has been used to determine periodontal conditions [30,39], osteoporosis [41], caries, and restorative treatment of teeth [42,43]. Its use in determining dental wear is still controversial because there is currently insufficient information in the literature to support it, other methods have been used to measure wear but direct comparison with results using the fractal dimension is not possible.…”

Effect of Heavy Metals Contamination from Cigarette Smoke on Sound and Caries-Like Enamel

“…In both flat and highly rough surfaces, the absorption does not depend on the ion, molecular, or particle size of the adsorbate. However, for rough surfaces such as carious teeth (Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 1997), it is expected that D values between 2 and 3 reveal the absorbate/adsorbate size-dependent behavior of kinetics and thermodynamics due to changes in absorbent accessible surface area (Adamson & Gast, 1997). Therefore, the gas-phase concentration of the metal compounds is not the only parameter that has an effect on their sorption by caries-like teeth, and further studies are need to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon.…”

Fractals in dentistry

“…Gonzá lez-Gonzá lez [80,81] proposed some special expansion-contraction plots to graphically study the restorative treatment evolution of teeth through fillings. He states that the irregularity and similarity of those expansion-contraction plots together with the unpredictability of caries, are evidence of its fractal nature.…”