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IV.—ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDIES ON HUMAN DENTAL ENAMEL
Author(s) -
Little K.
Publication year - 1958
Publication title -
journal of the royal microscopical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0368-3974
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1958.tb02040.x
Subject(s) - enamel paint , keratin , electron microscope , matrix (chemical analysis) , dental enamel , dentistry , crystallite , chemistry , tooth enamel , human tooth , materials science , crystallography , pathology , medicine , optics , chromatography , physics
SYNOPSIS Developing and mature dental enamel, together with early carious lesions, have been examined, using both the electron microscope and X‐ray diffraction. The most abundant component in enamel is calcium phosphate, the crystallites of which are embedded in an organic matrix. This matrix has two main components, one of which, β‐keratin, has a greater density than the second, a protein. It is this less dense protein which is first attacked and removed during the onset of dental caries—without this initial solution the remainder of the carious process would not take place. It is suggested that the results of this investigation, together with reported facts, are consistent with there being a vitamin required for the correct formation of the protein matrix, analogous to the need of vitamin A for the formation of bone matrix. If this is so, then caries could be regarded as a vitamindeficiency disease, complicated by a secondary bacterial invasion.