the remineralization mechanism in dental caries lesions is not completely understood. this study reports on ultrastructural and chemical changes observed within arrested caries lesions. carious human teeth were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SeM) and focused-ion-beam (fiB)-SeM. the crystals detected in the caries lesions were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), along with chemical element mapping using energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)-STEM. FIB-SEM 3D reconstructions revealed a severely damaged dentin surface abundantly covered by bacteria. Although the dentin tubules were clogged up to a depth of 100 μm, bacterial invasion into dentin tubules was not observed. TEM crystal analysis and EDS-STEM revealed the presence of Ca and P, as well as of Mg within the HAp crystals deposited inside the dentin tubules. It was concluded that extensive remineralization with deposition of Mg-HAp crystals had occurred in dentin tubules of caries-arrested dentin. Understanding the natural remineralization process is thought to be helpful for developing clinical biomimetic remineralization protocols.Dental caries is the most prevalent health condition in the world 1,2 . This disease is a dysbiosis caused by undisturbed bacterial accumulations, which can be up regulated by the presence of fermentable carbohydrates and down regulated by fluoride. Although salivary flow rate has its role in the process, the general and main etiologic cause is undoubtedly undisturbed biofilm accumulations with release of metabolic acids leading to substantial mineral loss from the tooth structure 3,4 . When the pH of the oral cavity is neutral and saliva is sufficiently saturated with calcium and phosphate, remineralization by mineral deposition will occur 5 . The caries process is well documented to progress when the balance between demineralization and remineralization is disturbed 6 . However, the process of caries initiation is not yet fully described and understood.Remineralization of carious dentin has been investigated before. Lesters and Boyde 6 documented the crystal formation and described the crystal structure of enamel and dentinal caries using SEM and TEM. Ogawa et al. investigated the transparent and sub-transparent layers of caries lesions by SEM and measured the different layer's surface hardness. They found that apatite was deposited in the tubules of the transparent and sub-transparent caries layers 7 . Frank and Voegel 8 also observed partially and completely calcified dentin tubules in the area between the translucent zone of carious dentin and inner dentin. However, they did not report the presence of remineralized dentin in the immediate surrounding of the carious lesion. Later, several researchers documented the crystal structure of demineralized dentin using TEM [8][9][10][11] . Zavgorodny et al. 10,11 observed a transparent zone close to the demineralized caries area. This transparent zone constitutes carious dentinal tissue with intratubular mineralization. In their study, remineralization...