CHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF SALIVARY CALCULUS
GERTRUDE E. GLOCK 1 and
MARGARET M. MURRAY 1
1 Department of Physiology, Bedford College (University of London), London, Eng.
1. A study has been made of the inorganic and organic material of salivary calculus. 2. The inorganic material (82.9 per cent) is made up of calcium and magnesium phosphates (79.7 per cent) and calcium carbonate (3.2 per cent). 3. There is 8.34 per cent protein present. This is found to consist of keratin, mucin and nucleoprotein (or nucleic acid). There is also 2.7 per cent fat. 4. Spectrum analysis revealed the presence of small amounts of Cu, Ag, Na, Sn and traces of Zn, Al, Ba, Sr and possibly Cr. 5. X-ray crystallographic analysis gave poor results. Salivary calculus is largely amorphous, though probably in part "apatite" like in structure.
