Microscopy: advances in scientific research and education

Abstract

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Sperctroscopy (EDS) are two analysis techniques that are widely used to study all kinds of solid samples, from inorganic to biological. They are used to determine morphological features of interest at a micron and sub-micron level as well as to study the chemical composition of the samples in terms of the amount of each element present. Although these analytical techniques are “routine work” in many research areas, it is not the case of the dental area, mainly because the lack of this equipment in the dental research institutes and in dental schools. Therefore, in this chapter we show the SEM/EDS techniques applied to human dental samples when irradiated with a laser Er:YAG to prevent caries. The intention of this work is to show step by step this analysis showing the key variables to consider when working with this type of biological samples. We explain the SEM conditions to obtain satisfactory images especially when it is important to follow a sequence of steps of a treatment in-vitro that changes the morphological structure of the teeth surface. Also, we discuss the EDS analysis to semiquantitatively determine the elements and their abundance in the dental samples.