THE POLARIZED LIGHT APPEARANCES OF HUMAN DENTAL ENAMEL
J. H. ALLAN 1
1 University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England
The appearances of human dental enamel in linear polarized light are not completely explicable in terms of a rodlet type of Weiner ideal mixed body. A correlation of the microradiographic and polarized light findings, in the present investigation, suggests that the behavior of the immersion fluid within the intermiscellar spaces leads to anomalous birefringence appearances, which must be considered when estimating the degree of mineral density within different zones of the enamel. The results obtained when using, for the first time, an immersion medium of high refractive index (2.05) are also reported.
Submitted on July 18, 1958
