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Carious dentinal lesions in which a remineralized surface layer covers the decalcified region were subjected to electron-probe and electron microscope studies. The remineralized surface layer contained especially high concentrations of F and K and was composed of crystals which were much larger than the crystals in intact dentine. In the decalcified regions there was a reduction in the concentration of Ca, P, and Mg. The decrease in Mg content seemed to start earlier than that for Ca and P. Although not as prominent as in the remineralized surface layer, crystals in the decalcified region were larger than crystals in intact dentine.

Materials used in this work were 13 permanent molars exhibiting dental fluorosis (between 5 and 9 on the Thylstrup-Fejerskov scale, 1978) obtained from adults (aged 20-40 years) living in regions with 3.5 ppm fluoride in the water supplies. Small but deep occlusal caries lesions necessitated extraction. Light and polarized microscopic, microradiographic, electron microscopic, and electron-probe- and ion-micro-analytical studies were made. Enamel surfaces were generally cloudy to opaque, with several pits or defects of various sizes and degrees of brown-staining. An extensively hypomineralized area extended from the inner enamel to the surface layer, which was mineralized to a high degree. The hypomineralized area contained sparsely arranged, flattened, hexagonal crystals with either perforated centers or defects extending from the perimeter and indicating either no or low fluoride content. The highly mineralized surface layer, however, was composed of many large, flattened, hexagonal crystals and extremely small, irregularly shaped crystals. Both types were free of central perforations and defects. A high fluoride concentration was determined in the highly mineralized surface layer. These findings suggest that the hypomineralized area undergoes caries-like changes in terms of crystal dissolution and that the highly mineralized surface layer contains hydroxyapatite and fluoridated-hydroxyapatite, or fluorapatite, or both.

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