Morphology and age-related changes in calcospherites of human teeth: an ultrastructural study

Abstract

Background: Dentine has been examined extensively for age-related physiological changes, but there are limited data on age-related changes at ultrastructural level of dentine. Aim: The present study aimed to examine age-related ultrastructural changes in calcospherites of human dentine under the scanning electron microscope. Materials and methods: Thirty single rooted teeth of North Western adult Indians (18–75 years) were collected from the Department of Oral Health Sciences, PGIMER, Chandigarh. Labiolingual sections were prepared and morphology of calcospherites was studied at different locations (coronal, cervical, midroot and apical) of the tooth. Results: Morphologically, four types (I [small, unfused and discrete], II [partially fused and globular], III [large, completely fused] and IV [structureless]) of calcospherites were seen in the sample. With advancing age, type I calcospherites approached neighbouring crystals and changed their form to type II, which ultimately coalesced and transformed to type III. Results revealed that among different age groups (young, middle and old), calcospherites of only type I, II and III showed statistically significant differences in their shapes using Pearson’s Chi-square test. Statistically non-significant differences were obtained in the shapes at different locations of the tooth. Conclusions: Results showed that calcospherites get fused as age advances. There is a change in the shape of calcospherites based on the location of the tooth.

Keywords

• calcospherites
• scanning electron microscope
• teeth
• age estimation
• morphology