Applications of scanning electron microscopy and focused ion beam milling in dental research

The abilities of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) milling for obtaining high‐resolution images from top surfaces, cross‐sectional surfaces, and even in three dimensions, are becoming increasingly important for imaging and analyzing tooth structures such as enamel and den...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of oral sciences 2022-04, Vol.130 (2), p.e12853-n/a
Main Authors: House, Krystal L., Pan, Long, O'Carroll, Deirdre M., Xu, Shiyou
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dental enamel
Dental Enamel - diagnostic imaging
Dental materials
Dental Research
Dentin
Dimensional analysis
Electron microscopes
Imaging
Ion beams
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Scanning electron microscopy
Specimen preparation
Teeth
three‐dimensional imaging
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary:The abilities of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) milling for obtaining high‐resolution images from top surfaces, cross‐sectional surfaces, and even in three dimensions, are becoming increasingly important for imaging and analyzing tooth structures such as enamel and dentin. FIB was originally developed for material research in the semiconductor industry. However, use of SEM/FIB has been growing recently in dental research due to the versatility of dual platform instruments that can be used as a milling device to obtain low‐artifact cross‐sections of samples combined with high‐resolution images. The advent of the SEM/FIB system and accessories may offer access to previously inaccessible length scales for characterizing tooth structures for dental research, opening exciting opportunities to address many central questions in dental research. New discoveries and fundamental breakthroughs in understanding are likely to follow. This review covers the applications, key findings, and future direction of SEM/FIB in dental research in morphology imaging, specimen preparation for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, and three‐dimensional volume imaging using SEM/FIB tomography.
ISSN:0909-8836
1600-0722
DOI:10.1111/eos.12853