目的:人牙釉质的性能与其主要成分——羟基磷灰石晶体的特殊组装结构密切相关。本研究目的是使用材料显微分析技术,对牙釉质从微米尺度到纳米尺度范围内的分级结构特点进行观察。方法:釉质样本取自成熟的人第三磨牙。使用扫描电子显微镜、高分辨透射电子显微镜和原子力显微镜观察釉质切片内釉柱的排列方式以及釉柱的微结构。结果:基于观察结果,我们提出了人类牙釉质7级分级结构,并用示意图讨论了各分级结构的特征。结论:构成人类成熟磨牙的釉质由7级分级结构构成,而且与其力学性能分布特点密切相关。
AIM:Enamel refers to the outmost crest of tooth that is mostly built up of hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals in well controlled assembly manners. The purpose of this study is to explore the structural characteristics of human dental enamel in terms of hierarchy from microscale to nanoscale using various material microscopic techniques. METHODS:Human enamel was taken from the mature third molars. The arrangements of prisms throughout the entire enamel layer ,as well as the microstructure inside the prisms and interprisms ,were investigated by SEM, HRTEM and AFM ,which indicated the high complexity of enamel microstructure in regarding to hierarchy. RESULTS:Based on the observations ,7 hierarchical levels of the microstructure were proposed and described with the scheme representing a complete spectrum of the organization in detail. CONCLUSION: Enamel in the mature human molars is constructed with 7 levels of hierarchical structure. Meanwhile, the mechanical distributions match the hierarchical organization at each level.