Background and aim: Dental caries is one of the most common childhood diseases worldwide. The implementation of strategies that facilitate the prevention of early dental caries and interrupt its progression has been recently advocated. It has been reported that casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) derived from casein reduces tooth demineralization and enhances the reminer...

Teeth from Megalobatrachus japonicus were prepared for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron microprobe analyzer (EMPA) to assay the elements of the enamel layer. The enamel layer of each of tooth is thin and the arrangement of the enamel crystals is regular in the Megalobatrachus japonicus. Based on calcium, phosphate and magnesium levels of distribution, the calcification level of t...

Studies on tooth crown size and structure in families and in individuals with various sex chromosome anomalies have demonstrated differential direct effects of the human X and Y chromosome genes on growth. The Y chromosome promotes both tooth crown enamel and dentin growth, whereas the effect of the X chromosome on crown growth seems to be restricted to enamel formation. Enamel growth is decisi...

In previous studies, we showed that the size of apatite nanocrystals in tooth enamel can influence its physical properties. This important discovery raised a new question; which factors are regulating the size of these nanocrystals? Trace elements can affect crystallographic properties of synthetic apatite, therefore this study was designed to investigate how trace elements influence enamel's c...

Translucency of human dental enamel was determined by total transmittance of wavelengths from 400 to 700 nm. The transmission coefficient at 525 nm was 0.481 mm-1. Total transmission of light through human dental enamel increased with increasing wavelength. Human tooth enamel is more translucent at higher wavelengths. The translucency of wet human enamel and enamel after dehydration was also me...

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE), a principal modulator of cholinergic neurotransmission, also has been demonstrated to be involved in the morphogenetic processes of neuronal and non-neuronal tissues. This study shows that AChE exhibits temporospatial activity in the dental epithelium of the developing mouse tooth. To identify the AChE activity in the mouse tooth during development, we performed enz...

Enamel thickness is highly susceptible to natural selection because thick enamel may prevent tooth failure. Consequently, it has been suggested that primates consuming stress-limited food on a regular basis would have thick-enameled molars in comparison to primates consuming soft food. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of enamel over a single tooth crown is not homogeneous, and thick enamel...

In a group of families in northern Sweden, a mutation in the ENAM gene (predicted to produce a highly truncated protein) results in the local hypoplastic form of autosomal dominant amelogenesis imperfecta. In this study, sections of deciduous teeth from members of 3 of these families were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the enamel mineral was analysed by energy dispersive X-r...

AIM Enamel pearls are a tooth anomaly that can act as contributing factors in the development of periodontal disease. Studies that have addressed the prevalence of enamel pearls in populations were scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of enamel pearls in the permanent dentition of Turkish dental patients by means of panoramic radiographs. PATIENTS AND METHODS Panor...

AIM The morphology of permanent and primary enamel surface merits further analysis. The objective of this study was to illustrate a method of SEM digital image processing able to quantify and discriminate between the morphological characteristics of primary and permanent tooth enamel. METHODS Sixteen extracted teeth, 8 primary teeth and 8 permanent teeth, kept in saline solution, were analyse...