The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Remarkable resilience of teeth
Open accessAbstract
Tooth enamel is inherently weak, with fracture toughness comparable with glass, yet it is remarkably resilient, surviving millions of functional contacts over a lifetime. We propose a microstructural mechanism of damage resistance, based on observations from ex situ loading of human and sea otter molars (teeth with strikingly similar structural features). Section views of the enamel implicate tufts, hypomineralized crack-like defects at the enamel–dentin junction, as primary fracture sources. We report a stabilization in the evolution of these defects, by “stress shielding” from neighbors, by inhibition of ensuing crack extension from prism interweaving (decussation), and by self-healing. These factors, coupled with the capacity of the tooth configuration to limit the generation of tensile stresses in largely compressive biting, explain how teeth may absorb considerable damage over time without catastrophic failure, an outcome with strong implications concerning the adaptation of animal species to diet.
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Cites
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Self-citationAutonomic healing of polymer composites
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Tough, Bio-Inspired Hybrid Materials
Munch, E., Launey, M. E., Alsem, D. H., Saiz, E., Tomsia, A. P., & Ritchie, R. O. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1164865 · Cited by 1,822
The Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook, Third Edition
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Nanoindentation mapping of the mechanical properties of human molar tooth enamel
Cuy, J. L., Mann, A. B., Livi, K. J., Teaford, M. F., & Weihs, T. P. (2002) · Archives of Oral Biology · doi:10.1016/s0003-9969(02)00006-7 · Cited by 721
Structural basis for the fracture toughness of the shell of the conch Strombus gigas
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The Seed-Eaters: A New Model of Hominid Differentiation Based on a Baboon Analogy
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Dental Functional Morphology: How Teeth Work
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Self-citationThe Seed-Eaters: A New Model of Hominid Differentiation Based on a Baboon Analogy
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Cited by
Protein-mediated Enamel Mineralization
Moradian-Oldak, J. (2012) · Frontiers in Bioscience · doi:10.2741/4034 · Cited by 321
Mechanisms and causes of wear in tooth enamel: implications for hominin diets
Lucas, P. W., Omar, R., Al-Fadhalah, K., Almusallam, A. S., Henry, A. G., Michael, S., Thai, L. A., Watzke, J., Strait, D. S., & Atkins, A. G. (2013) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0923 · Cited by 299
Self-citationThe hidden structure of human enamel
Beniash, E., Stifler, C. A., Sun, C.-Y., Jung, G. S., Qin, Z., Buehler, M. J., & Gilbert, P. U. P. A. (2019) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12185-7 · Cited by 265
Tracking cellular-level enamel growth and structure in 4D with synchrotron imaging
Tafforeau, P., Zermeno, J. P., & Smith, T. M. (2012) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.01.001 · Cited by 59
Metadata
- Authors
- Chai, H., Lee, J. J.-W., Constantino, P. J., Lucas, P. W., & Lawn, B. R.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2009-05-05
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 7289-7293
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- OpenAlex
- W1969831606
- Cited by
- 252
- References
- 31
- FWCI
- 19.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Chai, H., Lee, J. J.-W., Constantino, P. J., Lucas, P. W., & Lawn, B. R. (2009). Remarkable resilience of teeth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0902466106
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
