The purpose of this work is to induce biomimetic remineralization of acid etched coronal human dentine in artificial saliva (AS) under agarose (A) hydrogel or chitosan (CS)-A hydrogel action. The investigations focused on the morphology, chemical composition and crystalline structure of the new remineralized layers grown onto the etched dentinal surface (R) using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Experimental results showed that remineralized layers grown in the presence of A or CS-A hydrogels consist in B-type Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite (HAP). After 7 days treatment into artificial saliva under agarose hydrogel, nanorod-like extrafibrilar HAP crystals randomly self-assembled in a discontinuous layer were formed, while in presence of chitosan-agarose hydrogel a continuous compact CS-HAP composite layer was obtained. The new biomimetic layer (A-CS4) formed after 4 days on dentine surface under A-CS hydrogel has higher crystallinity. Longer exposed (7 days) dentine in the presence of agarose hydrogel shows a higher mineral-to-collagen ratio (A7). Since dentine mineralization increases, the collagen quality factor decreases in succession A-CS4]R]A7. Results show a benefic effect of chitosan on remineralization of etched dentine.
Converting Microwave Ovens into Plasma-Generating Decontamination Units for N-95 Respirators
