Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy as a Tool for the Characterization of Dental Erosion

Abstract

When the tooth is exposed to acidic environments, an irreversible loss of dental hard tissue occurs in a process called dental erosion. In this work, the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) was used to probe the consumption of protons at the vicinity of a tooth surface with a platinum microelectrode fixed at −0.5 (V) versus Ag/AgCl/KCl (sat) . SECM approach curves were recorded to assess the extent of diffusion in the solution close to the tooth substrate. SECM images clearly demonstrated that the acid erosion process is very fast at solution pH values in the range between 3 and 4.

Electrochemical sensors for oral biofilm–biomaterials interface characterization: A review

“…The details about the working principle of SECM can be found in the reference (Bard & Mirkin, 2012;Lee et al, 1990). Since the probe never touches the surface of the substrate, one can ideally use this method for any sensitive substrate such as biofilm, tissue, or mammalian cells, as well as new biomaterials (Abucayon et al, 2014;Bard et al, 2006;Castro et al, 2011;Hu et al, 2007;Stoica et al, 2008). Typically, a 25 µm diameter platinum microelectrode is used as a redox probe to perform the negative feedback approach curve and determine the probe-substrate distance.…”