Development of phantom for quantitative analyses of human dentin mineral density

The purpose of the present study was to develop a novel-designed phantom that could be scanned with a sample in the same image, that specialize for quantitative analyses of human dentin mineral density using the X-ray attenuation method. A further attempt was made to demonstrate the intracoronal dentin mineral density using this phantom in mandibular incisors. The phantom prepared with a 15mm hole in the center of an acrylic resin bar having an outside diameter of 25mm and 8 small holes (diameter, 3mm) were made at equal intervals around the center. Liquid dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K₂HPO₄) solutions were established at 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 g/cm³, and were arranged to these holes. The mean value of the intracoronal dentin mineral density was 1.486 ± 0.016 g/cm³ in the present study. As the results of the present study corresponded to previous reports, this new phantom was considered to be useful. This phantom enables the analysis of samples that are not readily available by conventional mechanical tests and may facilitate biomechanical investigations using X-ray images. It was suggested that this system is a simple, accurate and novel mineralization measuring system.