# Role of Water in Dental Hard Tissues

> **NIH NIH SC3** · JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $105,204

## Abstract

Summary
 Water is one of the three major constituents of dental hard tissues, but the structure of water and how
water interacts with other components in dental hard tissues during teeth formation, degradation, and lesion
remain unclear. Nuclear magnetic spectrometry (NMR) and infrared absorption (IR) are the methods that can
directly probe water from biological tissues. However, their performances are limited because NMR only
measures the average effect of the sample, while IR requires special preparations to tissues like teeth and could
alter the properties of the tissues. Recently, we demonstrated that fluorescence compressed Raman spectroscopy
has the capability of probing water in dental hard tissues and showed that the spectral profiles of water are
dramatically different between dentin and enamel. The profiles varied even within enamel at different testing
spots. Those results indicate that Raman spectroscopy may provide additional information about the role of
water in dental hard tissues with details that may impact the understanding of the mechanisms of dental
problems. The major aim of the proposed project is to use Raman spectroscopy to identify how the
changes in water content and structure in dental hard tissues may correlate with dental tissue
pathologies. Aim 1 will determine the best available Raman spectroscopy configurations for
probing water contents in dental hard tissues. Three common fluorescence suppression approaches, i.e.,
near-infrared excitation combining InGaAs detector, UV resonance Raman, and time-gated Raman spectroscopy
will be compared to determine how the signal to noise ratio of the water-related Raman signals can be
maximumly enhanced. We expect to increase the system sensitivity by one order or more. Aim 2 will
investigate the changes in water amount and structure changes reflected by Raman spectroscopy
and identify if these changes are correlated with other chemical/physical changes in dental hard
tissues. Teeth with various degrees of demineralization and decomposing of organics will be prepared to show
deferent levels of chemical compositional changes. Raman spectra will be acquired from these simulated samples
and used as references for probing compositional variations in teeth with naturally developed caries. Raman
spectroscopy will also be combined with micro-mechanical testing to identify correlations between water
contents and structure change and mechanical property changes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10786070
- **Project number:** 5SC3DE032298-03
- **Recipient organization:** JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Shan Yang
- **Activity code:** SC3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $105,204
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-04-15 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10786070

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10786070, Role of Water in Dental Hard Tissues (5SC3DE032298-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10786070. Licensed CC0.

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