Clinical and morphological features of pathological tooth mineralization

Goal. The study of morphology, location and composition of the mineral deposits in the specimens of deposits on teeth at various stages of their damage by mineral compounds. Materials and methods. Samples for the study - supragingival and subgingival stones obtained from 6 patients (two samples obtained at professional mechanical tooth cleaning and four samples obtained at the removal of affected teeth). The morphology and localization of mineral deposits in a form ofodontolith was investigated by means of the electron microscopy. The elemental composition was studied by X-ray microanalysis. Results. The key differences in the initial, intermediate and final stages ofpathological mineralization were revealed. The initial stages of subgingival dental mineralization are characterized by the formation of solitary mineral spherical particles in the organic plaque. The size of the mineral particles at this stage varies from 100 nm to 1 micron. The later stages of subgingival mineralization are characterized by the alignment ofspherical particles in the filaments and sticking them in the bunches, still in an organic plaque. The size of the particles themselves at this stage is a little bit larger than at the initial stages and varies from 0.4 to 2 micrometers. The stage of well developed dental deposits at root of the tooth features the massive mineral agglomerates up to several hundred micrometers in size. At the root and at the crown of the teeth the agglomerations of bacteria in the organic plaque were found. Areas of bacterial aggregation occupy more than 50% of the total tooth surface affected by mineral compounds. The main morphological differences of supragingival and subgingival mineralization as well as differences in their elemental composition were revealed. Conclusion. Summarizing these results, it can be argued that the process of pathological mineralization is initiated in the organic dental plaque at the root and the crown of the tooth to form the mineral particle of 100 nm in size. The data obtained may be useful in describing the mechanism of biomineral formation of deposits in the human body.

deposits on teeth, supragingival calculus, subgingival calculus, calciferous particles, pathological mineralization, electronic microscopy, x-ray microanalysis