Enamel

Properties, composition, structure

formation and age change

Prepared by
Dr. Manal Shukri Elfitory

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 Enamel
• It the outer covering of
the anatomical crown of
the teeth.

• Is highly calcified and the

hardest tissue in the
body.
• It form a protective
covering of the teeth to
resist attrition during
mastication.
• Is formed by cells
(ameloblasts) which are
ectodermal in origin.

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 Physical properties of enamel
1- Thickness
• Enamel shows maximum thickness on the cusp tips
and incisial edge while at the bottom of the sulcus
shows minimum thickness which thinning down to
almost a knife edge at the cervical margin of the
tooth.

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2- Hardness
• Enamel is the hardest calcified tissue in the human
body due to high mineral content and its crystalline
arrangement .
• Enamel of the permanent teeth is harder than the
deciduous teeth.
• The high degree of hardness at the surface, while
decrease toward amelodentinal junction and cervical
region.

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3-brittleness
• The specific hardness of enamel render it brittle.
• The brittleness more apparent when the enamel
loses the elastic features of underlying healthy
dentine.

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4- Color
• It ranges from yellow to shades of grey or grey- blue.
This depend on degree of calcification.
• Yellowish teeth have thin translucent enamel,
through which yellow color of dentine is visible.
• The shades of blue are most evident at the incisial
edge, where there is thin layer of underlying dentine.

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5-Permeability
• Enamel act as semipermeable membrane permitting
passage of certain ions and dyes.
• Main degree of permeability is from saliva to the upper
part of enamel but the less degree of permeability is
from pulp blood supply across the dentine.

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 Chemical composition

96% inorganic crystals 3 % water 1 % organic matrix

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• Inorganic content of enamel consist of crystalline
calcium phosphate in the form of hydroxyapatite
crystals.
• Some molecules may replace hydroxyl radicals of
hydroxylapatite,e.g. carbonate, magnesium,
potassium, sodium and fluoride.
• The ability of these crystals to dissolute by acid
provides the chemical basis of dental caries.

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Organic matrix is composed of two types protein:

1- Amelogenin.

2- Non amelogenin.

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 Histological structure of enamel

Enamel rod:
• Is the histological unit of enamel structure.
• The number of enamel rods varies in different teeth.
• It reaches about 5 millions in lower lateral incisior,
and up to 12 millions in the upper first molar.

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 Shape of enamel rods
In longitudinal section:
• Enamel rod appears cylindrical.
• After mild etching with diluted acids, dark lines are
clearly to be seen, giving the rod a striated
appearance known as cross striation.

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• In cross section, the enamel rods have a clear
crystalline appearance which appear in different
form as ( hexagonal, oval and rounded), with wide or
narrow interprismatic substance.
• This is due to the sectioning of the rod at different
angles to its long axis.

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 Direction of enamel rods
• The rods in general is perpendicular to the dentin.
• In deciduous teeth:
• They are vertical at incisial edge and cusp tip.
• They are oblique toward the remaining occlusal surface.
• They are horizontal in the middle and cervical region.

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• In permanent teeth , the direction of rods are
similar to that in deciduous teeth in the occlusal
and middle third.
• In the cervical region the enamel rods deviate from
horizontal to oblique.
 The course of individual rod is wavy (except in
cervical enamel where the rods have straight
course.

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 Diameter of enamel rods
• The diameter of enamel rods differ from amelodentinal
junction to the surface.
• The diameter of the rods increase toward the surface of
the enamel at ratio of 1:2.
• Enamel rod has a diameter of 3-4µ at the amelodentinal
junction.
• The different of diameter is related to the fact that the
rods near amelodentinal junction are separated by large
amount of interrod region.
• Rods are long near the cusps or incisial edge compared
with rods near the cervical area.

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Rod sheath
• The peripheral part of each rod represent plans
where abrupt change in crystals orientation takes
place creating greater space between them, which
contain more organic matrix which called rod sheath.

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Interrod substance:
The enamel rods which are not in direct contact with
each other, are cemented together by inter-rod
substance.

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 Incremental lines of retzius
• In ground section of
enamel: they appear as
brownish bands.
• Four days are needed for
the formation of the
enamel between two
bands.

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• In longitudinal section at the
incisal edges and cusp tips
of teeth, these brown
striation arise from the
amelodentinal junction
upward outward
surrounding the tip of
dentin, and they do not
reach the surface of enamel.
• At the cervical part of the
crown, they reach the outer
surface of enamel in series
of transverse depression
known as perikymata.
• In cross sections, these
increments appear as
concentric circles.
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Neonatal line
• This is one of the brown stria of
retzius which present only in the
deciduous teeth and the first
permanent molar.
• This line separates the enamel which
is formed before birth from that
formed after birth.
• It is usually associated with
disturbance in enamel formation
produced at birth, due to abrupt
change in nutrition and environment.
• The quality of prenatal enamel is
usually better than postnatal enamel,
due to the more protected condition
and constant nutrition of the fetus.
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 Gnarled enamel
• Over the cusps and incisal edges the rods appear
twisted around each other in complex arrangement
known as gnarled enamel.
• Change in rod directions between different layers
may increase the strength of enamel, making it less
prone to fracture and more resistant to wear.

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Hunter- Schreger bands
• The bands of Hunter- Schreger are an
optical phenomenon produced by
changes in direction between
adjacent groups of rods.
• These bands are seen in longitudinal
ground section by oblique reflected
light which present in inner two
thirds of enamel.
• These bands are not seen in the outer
part of the enamel because the rods
run again straight to the surface.

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Enamel lamellae
• Lamellae are thin hypomineralized sheets that
extend from enamel surface toward dentino-enamel
junction and sometimes penetrate into the dentin.
• They are best seen in transverse section.

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 Types of Lamellae
Type A
 Represent hypomineralized enamel rods that occur
developmentally and filled with enamel protein.
Type B
 Represent cracks that are produced during
development at planes of tension, and are filled with
cellular debris which are remnant of enamel organ.
Type C
 Are cracks but they are produced after eruption,
which are filled with organic debris from oral cavity.

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• Lamellae may be confused in ground sections with
artificial cracks produced by grinding.
• By carful demineralization false lamellae disappear,
while the true lamellae persist, revealed by the
presence of organic material.
• Enamel lamellae are of considerable importance as they
extend from enamel surface toward dentin, and they
act as an important role in spread of dental caries.

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 Enamel tufts
 Are hypocalcified enamel rods arise from
dentinoenamel junction to about 1/5- 1/3 the thickness
of enamel.
 They appear to be branched and contain greater
concentration of enamel protein than the rest of
enamel.

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• They are called tufts since they are resemble tufts of
grass.
• They occur during the development because of abrupt
change in the direction of group of enamel rods that
arise from different region of dentino-enamel junction.
• They are more numerous than enamel lamellae and
best demonstrated in transverse section.

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Enamel spindles
• Before formation of enamel, some developing
odontoblastic processes extend into the
ameloblast layer and when enamel formation
begins they become trapped to form enamel
spindles.
• They are present in great numbers at cusp
region.
• They lie at right angles to the dentine surface.
• They appear black in transmitted light because
their organic content degenerate and replaced
by air.

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 Dentin- enamel junction
• The junction between enamel and dentin is seen as a
scalloped border with their convexity extend toward
dentin.

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• The scalloped appearance is specially prominent
beneath the cusps of the tooth.
• This scalloped arrangement, increase the surface area
and the adherence between enamel and dentin.

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Surface structure of enamel
1- Rodless enamel
• It consist of closely packed crystals that are parallel to
each other.
• It occurs because of absence of Tome,s process on the
ameloblasts which responsible for development of
enamel rods.
• Roadless enamel is more prominent in deciduous teeth
than in permanent teeth because permanent teeth are
more subjected to attrition which retain their rodless
enamel only in protective area, such as cervically and
interproximally.
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Perikrymata
 These are transverse wave like groove that run parallel to
each other which represent the outer manifestation of stria
of Retzius.
 They are more prominent at cervical portion of crown.
 With aging perikrymata become less prominent due to the
wearing of enamel.

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 Amelogenesis
(formation of enamel)
 Amelogenesis is subdivided into:
1. Pre secretory stage.
2. Secretory stage.
3. Maturation stage.
4. Protective stage.

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1. Pre secretory stage
include:
a) Morphogenetic phase.
b) Differentiation phase.

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a) Morphogenetic phase.
 Before the ameloblasts are fully differentiated to
produce the enamel, they play an important role in
determining the dentino-enamel junction, which
establish the morphology of the crown.

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 The adjacent layer of dental papillae bellow the basement
membrane is a cell free zone containing fine fibers and cytoplasmic
process of superficial cells of the dental papillae. 39
b) Differentiation phase

 Adjacent ameloblasts are closely aligned to each other and

to cells of stratium intermedium by junctional complex
which determine certain elements to pass between
ameloblasts to enter enamel and have the ability to modify
their action by becoming tighter or loosely attached 40
according to their action.
 Disappearance of cell free zone between
inner dental epithelium and dental papillae
due to elongation of cells of inner dental
epithelium toward dental papillae.
 So the epithelial cells come into close
contact with the peripheral connective
tissue cells of dental papillae which
inducing them to be differentiate into
odontoblasts. This process is known as
induction.
 The first appearance of dentine seems to
be critical phase in the life cycle of inner
dental epithelium that cut off the
ameloblast from the original source of
nutrition that comes from blood vessels of
dental papillae. They receive an other
source of nutrition that comes from
capillaries of dental sac. 41
 2- Secretory stage
 In the previous phase, the inner enamel
epithelial cells become differentiated into
full functional ameloblasts which initiate
their formative stage after the first layer
of dentin has been formed.
 The matrix of enamel is synthesized within
the rough endoplasmic reticulum(RER)
and then migrate to Golgi apparatus to
condensed in membrane bound granules
then migrate to apical end of the cell to
deposit their content against the newly
formed dentin.
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 The hydroxyapatite crystals are
more or less parallel to each other
and interdigitate with the crystals
of dentin in the initial layer which
appears (rodless) and called
dentino-enamel membrane.
 As the first increment of enamel is
formed, ameloblast move away
from dentin surface and form
conical projection called Tomes
processes.
 When Tomes process is
established, the enamel matrix is
formed in rods.

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 The difference between rod and inter rod enamel is not
chemical, but in the orientation of crystals at which the crystals
of rods meet the crystals of inter rod at sharp angle. So there is
greater space between them which containing more organic
matrix than the other regions which form the boundary around
each rod known as rod sheath.
 Following deposition of majority of enamel matrix :
 Cells of stellate reticulum disappear.
 Ameloblasts shorten and loss their Tomes process so the final
layer of enamel appear rodless.

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 3- Maturation stage
 This stage occurs after the most thickness of
enamel matrix in occlusal and incisal area has
been formed, while in cervical region is still
progressing.

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During this stage the following changes occur in ameloblasts:
 Shorting of ameloblasts.
 Decrease in volume and cell organelles.
 The organelles of protein synthesis is enclosed in autophagic
vacuoles and digested by lysosomal enzymes.
 The remaining organelles are shifted to the distal plasma
membrane.

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 Ameloblasts become involved
in a cyclic process; water and
organic material are selectively
removed while an additional
inorganic material are
selectively introduced in
enamel matrix.
Ruffle-ended Smooth-ended

 Ameloblasts become
possessing a ruffled ended
border associated with
pumping of calcium ions into
the maturing enamel, and a
smooth ended border
associated with removal of
protein and water to provide
space for growing enamel
crystals. 48
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4- Protective stage
 As amelogenesis has been fully accomplished,
ameloblasts secrete or leave a structurless material on
enamel surface, known as primary enamel cuticle.

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 The ameloblasts become short and restore their
original stratified squamous structure and called
reduced enamel epithelium.

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• The separation of reduced enamel epithelium from enamel
may lead connective tissue cells to come in contact with
enamel, thus causing either cementum deposition or enamel
resorption.
• The reduced enamel epithelium induces degeneration of the
connective tissue separating it from the oral epithelium. the
epithelium cells may secrete enzymes that destroy the
connective tissue fibers by desmolysis.

Desmolytic Epithelial
1 enzymes canal
2

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Function of reduced enamel epithelium
1. form a protective covering for maturing enamel from
surrounding tissue until the tooth has been erupted .
2. Prevent cementum deposition on the enamel surface
before eruption.
3. Fuse with the oral epithelium to form an epithelial lined
pathway for the eruption of the tooth into the oral
cavity.
4. Important for the development of dentogingival
junction.

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 Age changes of enamel
1- Attrition

• Is the most apparent age change in enamel at the occlusal

surface and the proximal contact points as a result of
mastication.

• Amount of attrition varies with diet, hardness of teeth, nature

of occlusion.

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 2-Colour change of the tooth

• Teeth darken with age due to the addition of organic material

to enamel from oral environment .

• It may also due to attrition exposing the yellow colour of

dentin through the thin layer of enamel.

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3- Alteration in the chemical composition of enamel

• After tooth eruption, ionic exchange between enamel and

saliva occurs which lead to localized increase in certain
elements like fluoride in certain area.

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4- Permeability

• Which decrease with age due to deposition of some ions in

enamel crystals.

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Thank you

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