Crystallites dimensions of enamel.

In this paper the average diameter of enamel crystallites in mature, deciduous and fluorosed human enamel as well as in bovine enamel (in vivo and in vitro remineralized) is discussed. The investigation was carried out on broken surfaces of the various kinds of enamel with a scanning electron microscope. Corrections have been applied for the thickness of the gold-layer deposited. The average crystallite diameters for sound, deciduous and fluorosed human enamel were : 36 nm; 46 nm and 81 nm, respectively. The values for sound, remineralized in vitro and remineralized in vivo bovine enamel were 57 nm; 97 nm and 63 nm, respectively. The results indicate furthermore that if a correction for the sputtered goldlayer is applied, the results for SEM and TEM microscopy are in good agreement with each other. The difference between in vivo and in vitro remineralized bovine enamel is most likely due to differences in speed of remineralization and/or the presence of saliva.