Towards a 4-D Spatial and Temporal Model of Human Enamel Biomineralisation

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URL: http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/41764

OCLC: Towards a 4-d spatial and temporal model of human enamel biomineralisation

Abstract

Precise timings and spatial progression of human enamel biomineralisation are still largely unknown due to scarcity of developing human enamel specimens available for investigation. This information is crucial for optimising emerging biomimetic regenerative and reparative dentistry routes.

Five developing permanent incisors were obtained from an archaeological source and used alongside mature contemporary teeth for comparison. X-ray microtomography (XMT), synchrotron X-ray diffraction (S-XRD) and quantitative back-scattered electrons (qBSE) imaging were used to investigate the mineral density distribution, the crystallites texture magnitude and orientation and the nanostructure of dental enamel at various developmental stages, respectively.

XMT revealed that there was a bi-directional mineralisation "front" that starts at the cusp tip and at the enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) travelling cervically and peripherally until the relative mineral density is uniform in the fully mature tooth (2.75 g/cm³ ± 0.01 g/cm³). S-XRD revealed that within one probed region, two populations of crystallite orientations exist simultaneously with an angular separation of 20-50°, with one population being more dominant than the other by a factor of approximately 3:7. Furthermore, one population displayed a higher degree of crystallite texture than the other. These phenomena were observed in all stages of tooth development. The crystallites in both populations were oriented approximately perpendicular to the EDJ regardless of development stage, indicating initial preferred directions of crystallites persist from early through to full maturation. The direction and magnitude of organisation within two distinct populations of crystallites within the developing and mature enamel has not been quantified previously. qBSE analyses suggested that the two observed populations are most likely due to prism decussation and revealed that mineralisation of prism cores precedes that of prism boundaries.

These results provide new insights towards building a quantitative spatio-temporal model of human enamel biomineralisation in order to inform emerging biomimetic reparative/regenerative dental technologies.

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