Recent research demonstrates that silica phytoliths of dietary origin are associated with microwear of human teeth. Previous research has shown that severe enamel microwear and dental wear characterizes Archaic hunter-gatherers in the lower Pecos region of west Texas. Calcium oxalate crystals are especially common in Archaic coprolites. The vast majority are derived from prickly pear and agave,...

Dental caries continues to be the most prevalent bacteria-mediated non-contagious disease of humankind. Dental professionals assert the disease can be explained by poor oral hygiene and a diet rich in sugars but this does not account for caries free individuals exposed to the same risk factors. In order to test the hypothesis that amount of amelogenin during enamel development can influence car...

This study investigated the prevalence of enamel hypoplasia and dental caries and the relationship between the two diseases in all 4- to 6-year-old Australian Aboriginal children of the Tiwi tribe on Bathurst Island. Seventy-nine of 80 children (99%) had enamel hypoplasia, with a mean of 12.0 +/- 4.1 hypoplastic teeth per child. Dental caries was noted in 66 (83%) of children and the mean numbe...

Amelogenin is the major enamel matrix protein with key roles in amelogenesis. Although for many decades amelogenin was considered to be exclusively expressed by ameloblasts, more recent studies have shown that amelogenin is also expressed in other dental and no-dental cells. However, amelogenin expression in human tissues remains unclear. Here, we show that amelogenin protein is not only expres...

Quantitative studies of incremental markings retained within human enamel have reconstructed the duration and rate (crown and cusp formation times, initiation and completion, daily enamel secretion rates) of permanent tooth development. This approach has provided one way of estimating human age-at-death, and facilitated comparative dental studies of primate evolution. Similar applications from ...

Human dental enamel has a porous mesostructure at the nanometre to micrometer scales that affects its thermal and mechanical properties relevant to laser treatment. We exploit finite element models to investigate the response of this mesostructured enamel to mid infrared lasers (CO2 at 10.6 μm and Er:YAG at 2.94 μm). Our models might easily be adapted to investigate ablation of other brittle co...

OBJECTIVE Interproximal enamel reduction is a part of orthodontic treatment for gaining a modest amount of space in the treatment of crowding. Today interproximal enamel reduction has become a viable alternative to the extraction of permanent teeth, and helps to adjust the Bolton Index discrepancy. The aim of the study is to evaluate various interproximal enamel reduction techniques, its indica...

PURPOSE The aim of the present in vitro study was to assess the effect of bleaching agents on eroded and sound enamel specimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS Enamel specimens prepared from human permanent anterior teeth were incubated with different bleaching agents containing active ingredients as 7.5 or 13.5% hydrogen peroxide or 35% carbamide peroxide, ranging in pH from 4.9 to 10.8. The effect o...

Human dental enamel has a porous mesostructure at the nanometre to micrometre scales that affects its thermal and mechanical properties relevant to laser treatment. We exploit finite-element models to investigate the response of this mesostructured enamel to mid-infrared lasers (CO(2) at 10.6 microm and Er:YAG at 2.94 microm). Our models might easily be adapted to investigate ablation of other ...