Comparison of metrology created by profilometry and digital microscopy on polished dentine in an erosion/abrasion model

Digital microscopy offers the ability to scan surfaces to produce 3D reconstructions, allowing step height measurements with high accuracy. The aims of this study were to compare the step heights from the gold standard, non-contact profilometry, to digital microscopy in an erosion/abrasion model.Dentine specimens (n = 60) were immersed in deionised water, 1450 ppm and 5000 ppm fluoride as sodium fluoride for 3 min, eroded for a total of 25 min in a cycled protocol in 0.3% citric acid (pH 2.7) and abraded with 120 and 240 brushing strokes. Samples were scanned by a non-contacting profilometer with a 0.1 μm vertical resolution and then the same samples imaged with a digital microscope and the step heights compared. Data were analysed in GraphPad Prism 7.00. Data were normally distributed and a 3 way ANOVA with post hoc analysis used to assess for differences between groups. Agreement between the measurement method was assessed using IntraClass Correlations and Bland Altmans plots.The mean step heights from the profilometry and the digital microscope on the same samples were not statistically significant different. The magnitude of the differences was less than 0.5 μm. The results of the ANOVA demonstrated that the individual factors fluoride concentration and number of strokes were significant (P0.05), however, the method of analysis was not (p = 0.74). ICC's between the two methods of analysis were excellent (0.996, p0.001) with no proportional bias.This study reports that step height on dentine from a digital microscopy and non-contact profilometry were not significantly different. The digital microscope, although slower, allows visual inspection of the samples as well as measurement.Digital microscope's offer the ability to scan, 2D or 3D images and perform meteorological analysis of samples. In this investigation both showed that 5000 ppm fluoride prevents erosive tooth wear in vitro.