title: Morphological analysis of human and bovine dentine by scanning electron microscope investigation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to compare the superficial morphology of bovine and human sclerotic dentine.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the morphological analysis, bovine (n = 3) and human (n = 3) incisors exhibiting exposed dentine were used. Dentine presented characteristics of sclerosis: brownish, smooth and shiny--the vitreous appearance. The teeth were prepared for assessment on a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three pre-determined areas of each sample were submitted to SEM. The number of open tubules per area was obtained from the electron micrographs (n = 9 per group) for comparison purposes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of open tubules in both species compared were similar (p > 0.05). Human dentine presented 31.89 +/- 23.94 open tubules per area, whereas bovine dentine showed 30.33 +/- 18.14 open tubules per area.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the results, we concluded that dentine exposed at the incisal surface of human and bovine teeth presented similar clinical and micro-morphological aspects, represented by surfaces with equivalent numbers of open dentinal tubules.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Dentística, Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. maiteandre@usp.br
authors.forename: Maitê André
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.forename: Márcia Martins
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: Antonio Alberto
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: de Cara
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003804:Dentin / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D012598:Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology; D014072:Tooth Abrasion / Q000473:pathology*; D014083:Tooth Germ / Q000648:ultrastructure