Structure, crystal chemistry and density of enamel apatites

The apatitic calcium phosphate crystals in dental enamel are too small for single crystal diffraction studies so the only possible direct structure determination must use whole-pattern-fitting Rietveld analysis of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction patterns. As a result, aspects of the structure are not known in detail. Further structural information can be obtained by consideration of published chemical analyses and infrared studies, taking into account studies of the crystal chemistry of synthetic apatitic analogues of enamel apatite. The apatitic constitutional water and total water content of enamel are particularly important, but there are difficulties in their determination. Making reasonable assumptions, a number of models of the unit cell can be derived. The weight per cent (including constitutional water) and density of the enamel apatite crystals for the most probable model are about 98 wt.% and 3.0 g cm-3, respectively. The apatite volume per cent calculated from these values is about 96%. The weight per cent and volume per cent of enamel apatite are higher than normally accepted values because of inclusion of constitutional water and use of a density for enamel apatite that takes into account its known lattice expansion over hydroxyapatite and probable lattice vacancies.