Variations in Dental Enamel Crystallites and Micro-Structure

Dental enamel crystallites consist of relatively highly crystalline biological apatite, which include a large amount of carbonate ions in the apatite crystal lattice. However, this common understanding was achieved only after a great deal of research because of the wide variation in the chemical composition of dental enamel. In this paper, the difference between biological and mineral apatite is briefly reviewed, and how to obtain information easily concerning the chemical composition of dental enamel, which is a major factor in determining the physical-chemical properties, using non-destructive high-accuracy analytical instruments, such as FT-IR spectrometry, FT-Raman spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Variations in the enamel structure observed by instruments other than optical or electron microscopes were not reported in relation to tooth type differences. These variations are referred to herein as variations in enamel microstructure, such as micro-pores. Finally, a number of problems with respect to variations in dental enamel that cannot be ignored when treating dental enamel are discussed.