Three-Dimensional Reconstructions of Enamel Prisms

¹ Unit of Anatomy in Relation to Dentistry, Anatomy Department, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London Bridge, London, England

By optically sectioning ground sections of enamel, consecutive series of photographs, taken at intervals of 2µ, of transversely sectioned enamel prisms have been produced. From these serial photographs, serial tracings and wax models of individual enamel prisms have been constructed. It is concluded that the shape of a prism changes continually along its length and that these changes are probably not entirely random. In particular, there was some evidence that prisms undulated along their long axes and that the undulations had a periodicity of between 4µ and 8µ.