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The interaction of 15 ns pulses from an ArF excimer laser with hard dental tissue was investigated for the purpose of obtaining practical information on the ablation process. Dark field fast photography utilizing an auxiliary, 15 ns Nd:Yag laser 'probe', was used to study the ablation plume dynamics as a function of time, luminescence were studied at different fluence levels and prr. Dentin ablation was found to be about four times as efficient as ablation of enamel in the higher fluence levels tested (> 10 J/cm2) and about twice as efficient as the ablation in the lower fluence regime (approximately equals 1 J/cm2). The dentin etch depth per pulse was found to increase exponentially with fluence (at least up to the tested level of 11 J/cm2), while in enamel the etch depth per pulse appears to increase logarithmically with fluence. Dentin ablation yields a larger, more dense plume which can be ejected (depending on the fluence level) to a height of several millimeters above the surface with observed ejection velocity in access of 1200 m/s. The dentin plume consisted of a relatively uniform particle size distribution (0.1 micrometers to 10 micrometers in diameter). Enamel ablation, on the other hand, yields a smaller observed ejection velocities (about 800 m/s), and a much smaller plume of fine particles (about 0.1 micrometers in diameter) and gases, confined to within 0.5 mm of the surface. In addition, an even smaller amount of highly non-uniform debris, (from ten to several hundred micrometers in size) is observed to be ejected to higher levels, and reach roughly half the height of the corresponding dentin plume for similar fluence levels. Although both dentin and enamel yield lower ablation efficiencies at 1 Hz, no significant difference is detected between the ablation efficiency at 5 Hz and ablation 10 Hz prr. Both materials remained within 20 degree(s)C of room temperature even at fluences as high as 20 J/cm2 and prr as high as 10 Hz for enamel and 20 Hz for dentin. Although both materials attained temperature higher than 100 degree(s)C at prr greater than 50 Hz, enamel tends to become much warmer than dentin at this higher prr regime, and its surface temperature is more sensitive to fluence level. Both enamel and dentin ablation with fluence levels higher than approximately equals 1 J/cm2 and at prr lower than 50 Hz, yielded smooth, thermal-damage-free surfaces. At sufficiently low fluence (< 1 J/cm2) only partial ablation is observed while rough and irregular surfaces are left behind. Spectral luminescence signatures generated by the ablation were found to be similar in both dentin and enamel, and to consist, initially, of broad plasma continuum, and later, of well defined Calcium atomic and ionic transition peaks.
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