ENAMEL

Oral Histology
Debt 206
ENAMEL
 Physical properties of enamel
Thickest over cusp tips & incisal edges (2.5
mm) & thinnest at the cervical margin (knife
edge)
Hardest biological object
Doesnt undergo replacement or repair
Low tensile strength & brittle
White with low translucency that increases
with age reflecting the yellow color of dentine
 Chemical properties
Hydroxyapatite
Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2
88-90% by volume & 95-96% by weight, the remainder being the
organic material & water
Mineral content increases from EDJ to surface
Crystallites are hexagonal 70 nm in width, 25 nm thick & of great
length
Crystallites are much bigger than those in dentine, cementum &
bone
Core is more soluble than peripheries
Ion replacement may occur
HCO3 for OH
Mg for Ca
F for OH conferring greater stability & resistance to acidic dissolution
F level declines from outer to inner layers
 Chemical properties
Water
About 2% by weight or 5-10% by volume
Organic matrix
1-2%
May be more
Where crystallites are irregular
Enamel tufts
EDJ
Amino acids, peptides, ameloginins & non-
amelogenins & lipids
 Enamel Prisms
Basic structural unit consisting of crystals
packed in long & thin rods
Run from EDJ to the surface
Boundaries reflect sudden change in
orientation of crystals (40 60 degrees)
 Enamel prisms
In x-section
Pattern I circular pattern
Near EDJ & surface
Interprismatic areas exist
between prisms
Pattern II
Parallel rows
Pattern III keyhole pattern
Mostpredominant
Occupies the bulk of enamel
 Keyhole
pattern

Head & tail areas

A tail is located between 4 heads
Change in crystals orientation is gradual within a
single keyhole but sudden between 2 keyholes
In the head, crystals run parallel to prisms long axis
Within the keyhole, crystals diverge in different
directions from the heads central area
In the tail crystals are 65-70 degrees from those in
the head but divergence is gradual
 Enamel prisms
Inlongitudinal section, prisms appear to
run in straight lines from EDJ to surface
Prisms meet enamel surface at different
angles
Cervical margin right angles
More occlusally/incisally 60 degrees
At fissures 20 degrees
 Prism vs. core
Prism = rod + interrod
Prism = head + tail = keyhole pattern
Head = core = rod
Tail = interrod
Prism = hexagonal?
 Hunter-Schreger bands
Prisms follow a sinusoidal path in longitudinal sections
Layers in a block of 10 -13 layers follow same direction
Blocks above & below follow different direction
Resistance to fracture
Fractured enamel has a grinding surface
Periodic changes give Hunter-Schreger bands
Because different bands of prisms transmit light in different directions
Parazones
Areas where bands of prisms are cut longitudinally
Diazone
Areas where bands of prisms are cut tranversely
Angle between parazones & diazones is 40 degrees
Bands in outer run in same direction no HS bands
Gnarled enamel
Underneath cusp tips & incisal edges
Where groups of prisms spiral around others
Hunter-Schreger bands
 Aprismatic enamel
Permanent teeth
Outer 20 70 m
Deciduous teeth
Outer 20 100 m
Crystallite are parallel to each other & at right angle
to the surface
More mineralized due to absence of prism
boundaries
Occur due to absence of TP at late stage of enamel
deposition
 Incremental lines
Enamel in formed incrementally
Periods of activity alternates with periods
of quiescence
This results in incremental lines
Two types
Short period Cross-striations
Long period enamel striae
 Cross-striation
Lines at right angles with long axes of
prisms
2.5 6 m apart
In cervical enamel 2 m because enamel
forms more slowly
Reflect a diurnal rhythm
 Enamel striae (of Retzius)
Structural lines running obliquely across the prisms in
longitudinal sections
They run circumferentially in x-sections
Striae overlapping cusps & incisal edges do not reach the
surface
There are 7 10 cross-striation between 2 subsequent
striae
Reflect nearly a weekly intervals
Due to metabolic disturbances during mineralization
Absent in enamel formed before birth
Neonatal line is a marked stria formed at birth reflecting
metabolic disturbance at birth
Enamel Striae
Enamel Striae
Enamel striae
 Perikymata grooves & ridges
Occur as enamel striae reach
enamel surface
Appear as a series of fine
grooves and ridges alternatively
running circumferentially
Close together near the cervical
margin
In deciduous teeth, only seen in
cervical enamel of second molars
 Enamel dentine junction
EDJ reflects the boundary between enamel and dentine
Two patterns
Scalloped
Beneath cusps & incisal edges
High shearing forces
Convexities at enamel surfaces
Smooth
At the lateral surface
Low shearing forces
Structures visible at EDJ
Enamel spindles
Enamel tufts
Enamel lamellae
 Enamel spindles
Tubules extending up to 25 m into
enamel
Believed to be odontoblastic process that
remained between ameloblasts
 Enamel tufts
Resemble tufts of grass
Travel in same direction as the prisms
Hypomineralized areas
Several prisms wide
Suggested to result from residual protein
matrix (non-amelogenin)
Enamel spindles tufts &
lamellae
 Enamel lamellae
Sheet-like structural fault
Run through entire thickness of enamel
Hypomineralized
Lamellae vs. cracks in ground sections
Causes
Developmentally - may be due to incomplete
maturation of groups of prisms
After eruption cracks
 Age changes
Enamel wear
Abrasion
Erosion
Attrition
Darkening in color
Increased thinness
Acquired stains
Composition of surface enamel changes
More Fluoride incorporated
Susceptibility to caries decreases
Porosity is reduced