The investigation of thermoluminescence intensity-dose response relation of the tooth enamel at different annealing temperatures

Thermoluminescence (TL) is the natural light phenomenon emitted from an insulator or wide band gap semiconductor after absorbing some energy from an external radiation source when it is stimulated by thermal excitation. Tooth enamel is the hardest part of tooth and protects the dentine. In terms of its weight, it consists of 95% inorganic minerals, 1% organic minerals, and 3% water. Fluorapatite Ca5F(PO4)3 is an important mineral in tooth enamel. Due to the fact that the effective atomic number of fluorapatite is nearly the same with human calcified tissues, it is a candidate of important thermoluminescence dosimeter (TLD) material. In this thesis, thermoluminescence (TL) intensity-dose response relation of fluorapatite mineral in tooth enamel under the different annealing temperatures were investigated and then analyzed its thermoluminescence glow curve peaks with a computer programs. This study reveals that the fluorapatite mineral extracted from tooth enamel shows TL properties. Annealing of the sample at different temperatures affects the TL output- dose response relation. A good linearity in dose response is observed in the samples annealed at 400 oC and 700 oC. And also, dose variation differently changes the trap positions at different annealing temperature.