Anna-Katinka
Bracher1, Christian Hofmann2,3, Said Boujraf4,
Axel Bornstedt1, Erich Hell5, Johannes Ulrici5,
Axel Spahr2, Volker Rasche1
1Department of Internal Medicine II,
University Hospital of Ulm, Ulm, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany; 2Department
of Operative Dentistry, Periodontology and Pedodontics, University Hospital
of Ulm, Ulm, Germany; 3Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital of Ulm,
Ulm, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany; 4Department of Biophysics and
Clinical MRI Methods, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Fez,
Morocco; 5Sirona Dental Systems GmbH, Bensheim, Germany
Due
to the high mineral content, the concentration of free protons is extremely
low causing only weak magnetization and due to the susceptibility interfaces
in the mineral structures, the spin-spin relaxation rates results below 1ms
for dentin and below 250s for enamel. During caries lesion formation, some
increase in liquid content resulting from the production of acid or caused by
water penetrating into the lesion through the porous demineralized enamel
layer is expected. The performance of ultra-short echo time (UTE) MRI for
early assessment of lesion formation was investigated and compared to X-ray
imaging.
Keywords