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Sequential observations followed by acid etching on the enamel surfaces of human teeth under scanning electron microscopy at low vacuum
Author(s) -
Kodaka Tetsuo,
Mori Ryoichi,
Miyakawa Michiyo
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.1070240508
Subject(s) - etching (microfabrication) , enamel paint , scanning electron microscope , prism , materials science , phosphoric acid , optics , composite material , metallurgy , layer (electronics) , physics
A scanning electron microscope equipped with a low vacuum specimen chamber and a Robinson's backscattered electron detector was employed to observe the natural surfaces of human buccal enamel before and after 30 percent phosphoric acid etching sequentially up to 90 sec at the same sites with no coatings. Furthermore, successive etching patterns were compared between deciduous and permanent teeth. On the imbrication lines of young permanent teeth, prismend pits surrounded with a “prismless” structure occasionally disappeared after acid etching and became a prismless enamel. Sequential etching caused the prismless areas and the areas of a type 1 etching pattern to decrease, and a cone‐shaped prism structure and a complex type of the type 1 and type 2 etching pattern (type 1–2) to appear. The former was a transitional type between the prismless enamel and type 2 prisms. These etched surfaces show type 2 prisms after deeper etching. Small dome‐shaped structures, slightly elevated on the attrited enamel surfaces, were found only in deciduous teeth. After acid etching, such areas which retained the prismless enamel rose to the underlying surfaces of cone‐shaped prisms. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.