Abstract
MAMMALIAN dentine consists mainly of hydroxyapatite crystallites with an average size of about 0.03µ1, and collagen fibres. If the latter are removed from a dentine section and the preparation embedded in a medium with a refractive index high enough to eliminate ‘form’ birefringence, the optical properties of the mineral are then seen, and it has been shown that the crystallites are orientated in definite patterns2. They may lie with their optic axes parallel with the original direction of the collagen fibres, parallel with the dentine tubules, or they may be ‘spheritically’ orientated.
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References
Thewlis, J., Proc. Phys. Soc., 51 (1939).
Keil, A., Z. Zellforsch., 21 (1934); 25 (1936).
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POOLE, D. Crystallite Orientation in the Tooth Dentine of Macropus . Nature 177, 485–486 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/177485a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/177485a0
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