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The impact of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment on the enamel of twelve primary
teeth (incisors, canines, and molars) collected from six children was examined in order to evaluate
the possibility of using the CAP technique in dental applications. A radio-frequency dielectric barrier
discharge (DBD) plasma jet operating at a voltage of 3.25 kV using a mixture of helium and oxygen as
the working gas was used for the generation of plasma as part of the electro-technological method for
the treatment of biological material. The plasma exposure time for the primary teeth was 5, 10, and
20 min. The properties of tooth enamel (color, contact angles, surface roughness, surface topography,
elemental composition) were examined before (control) and after the plasma treatment. As shown by
the results, the plasma treatment time is a key parameter that can induce desired features, such as
whitening or improved wettability. However, with prolonged plasma treatment (20 min), the enamel
surface may be permanently damaged. The cold-plasma-treated samples were characterized by a
higher value of the brightness L* parameter and thus a lighter color, compared to the CAP-untreated
teeth. It was also evidenced that the plasma treatment increased the hydrophilicity of tooth surfaces,
and the contact angles effectively decreased with the time of the CAP treatment. The tooth surface
also became much more heterogeneous and rough with much greater amplitudes in heights. The
surface of the primary teeth after the CAP treatment lost its homogeneity, as evidenced by the SEM
micrographs. The analysis of the elemental composition revealed only minor changes after the
plasma process, which may suggest that the observed morphological changes in the enamel surface
are mainly physical and are not a consequence of chemical reactions between the enamel and the
reactive components of the cold plasma. Plasma treatment of teeth opens up new possibilities of
using this method as an alternative to whitening or pre-treatment before other dental procedures.
