Removal Mechanism of Artificial Dental Plaque by Impact of Micro-Droplets

This paper presents the experimental evaluation of the impact of a single water droplet on a model of artificial dental plaque used as a biofilm. The instantaneous moment of the impact of the droplet on the biofilm was visualized using a high-speed imaging technique. It was found that the artificial plaque could withstand a shear stress of 10.5 kPa, and the normal stress resulting from the impact of the droplet was a dominant factor of the plaque-removal process investigated in our experiment. The actual impact of a single droplet on artificial plaque was precisely measured as the formation of a three-dimensional surface structure of a crater.