Morphological analysis of human and bovine dentine by scanning electron microscope investigation

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to compare the superficial morphology of bovine and human sclerotic dentine.DesignFor the morphological analysis, bovine (n = 3) and human (n = 3) incisors exhibiting exposed dentine were used. Dentine presented characteristics of sclerosis: brownish, smooth and shiny—the vitreous appearance. The teeth were prepared for assessment on a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three pre-determined areas of each sample were submitted to SEM. The number of open tubules per area was obtained from the electron micrographs (n = 9 per group) for comparison purposes.ResultsThe number of open tubules in both species compared were similar (p > 0.05). Human dentine presented 31.89 ± 23.94 open tubules per area, whereas bovine dentine showed 30.33 ± 18.14 open tubules per area.ConclusionBased on the results, we concluded that dentine exposed at the incisal surface of human and bovine teeth presented similar clinical and micro-morphological aspects, represented by surfaces with equivalent numbers of open dentinal tubules.