A mathematical description of surface texture development in laser-ablated dentin.

A cone-shaped texture is observed when a transverse cross section of human dentin cut perpendicularly to the tooth axis is processed with KrF excimer laser radiation using appropriate processing parameters. In the present paper, a mathematical model describing the kinetics of cone growth as a function of the number of laser pulses is presented. It is shown that the fractional area occupied by cones is adequately described by a modified Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov equation and that the boundary lines between cones define a Voronoi tessellation generated from the corresponding initial tubule location. This model allows the surface texture evolution in dentin to be predicted from the initial tubule distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]