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The structural alterations that may arise in boiled and nonboiled bones are often overlooked despite their critical importance in the development of defleshing techniques across various scientific disciplines. To elucidate the microstructural characteristics of bones following the removal of soft tissue through conventional methods, attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopies were employed. Our findings indicate that the boiled water method resulted in higher crystallinity, as evidenced by the FTIR data, whereas the XRD data revealed the opposite. This underscores the notion that a direct comparison between these two techniques is unfeasible as they measure distinct crystallinity parameters. In addition, the cold water maceration method caused a significant reduction in collagen crosslinking, as evidenced by the lower index observed.

ATR-FTIR spectroscopy is a powerful technique for unraveling the fine features of dentin; however, its use in the analysis of eroded dentin remains underexplored. Herein, the impact of different acidic food products (a soft drink, vinegar, and yogurt) on dentin was investigated using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The durations of exposure were one, three, and seven days. One-way and two-way analyses of variance were employed to analyze differences in mean values among groups, followed by Dunnett’s and Tukey’s tests. After exposure, the mineral-to-matrix ratio in the three media was significantly lower than that in the control group. The carbonate-to-phosphate ratio and extent of crosslinking increased considerably after exposure to all media; however, the crystallinity index values decreased relative to that in the control group. These findings imply that ATR-FTIR may be an effective noninvasive technique for detecting erosion-induced changes in dentin, having a significant clinical impact on dental care.