Human Enamel - Elegantly Designed Natural Biocomposite

As the outer cover of teeth, enamel is the hardest,
stiffest and one of the most durable load-bearing
tissues of the human body. Material scientists are
interested in the structure and function of the
natural material. How does nature design the material
to meet its functional needs? While dental
practitioners are keen to know the properties of
enamel and compare it with different dental
materials. What kind of dental materials can best
simulate enamel as a restoration in the oral cavity?
The content of this book will attempt to provide
answers or indications to the above questions.
Bearing the assumption that the hierarchical
microstructure and trace protein remnants in enamel
regulate the mechanical behaviour of the natural
biocomposite in mind, the nano-mechanical properties
of human enamel was thoroughly explored by the
most-advanced nanoindentation, SEM and vibrational
spectroscopy technologies. The outcomes successfully
interpreted how microstructural and compositional
features of enamel regulate its mechanical behaviour.
The new information and analytical methods provided
by the book will be of benefit to dental material
development, evaluation and selection.