Synchrotron radiation-based phase-contrast microtomography of human dental calculus allows nondestructive analysis of inclusions: implications for archeological samples

Abstract

Purpose: Dental calculus forms on teeth during the life of an individual and its investigation can yield information about diet, health status, and environmental pollution. Currently, the analytical techniques used to visualize the internal structure of human dental calculus and entrapped inclusions are limited and require destructive sampling, which cannot always be justified. Approach:We used propagation phase-contrast synchrotron radiation micro-computed tomography (PPC-SR-μCT) to non-destructively examine the internal organization of dental calculus, including its microstructure and entrapped inclusions, on both modern and archeological samples. Results:The virtual histological exploration of the samples shows that PPC-SR-μCT is a powerful approach to visualize the internal organization of dental calculus. We identified several important features, including previously undetected negative imprints of enamel and dentine growth markers (perikymata and periradicular bands, respectively), the non-contiguous structure of calculus layers with multiple voids, and entrapped plant remains.Conclusions: PPC-SR-μCT is an effective technique to explore dental calculus structural organization, and is especially powerful for enabling the identification of inclusions. The non-destructive nature of synchrotron tomography helps protect samples for future research. However, the irregular layers and frequent voids reveal a high heterogeneity and variability within calculus, with implications for research focusing on inclusions.

Synchrotron X-ray Studies of the Structural and Functional Hierarchies in Mineralised Human Dental Enamel: A State-of-the-Art Review

“…The data were extracted from Endnote software in ‘.txt’ format and manually edited to arrange the studies by techniques. In total, 31 terms were considered based on these studies [ 11 , 31 , 39 , 56 , 57 , 77 , 78 , 89 , 90 , 121 , 169 , 170 , 171 , 172 , 173 , 175 , 193 , 195 , 247 , 266 , 286 , 294 , 299 , 303 , 304 , 305 , 306 , 307 , 308 , 309 , 310 , 311 , 312 , 313 , 314 , 315 , 316 , 317 , 318 , 319 , 320 , 321 , 322 , 323 , 324 , 325 , 326 , 327 , 328 , 329 , 330 , ...…”

“…The data were extracted from Endnote software (Clarivate) in ‘.txt’ format and manually edited to match the reading format and correlation of words; for example, British spelling was applied when translating non-English titles and acronyms were generally written in full length. The minimum number of occurrences of a term was set to four, and in total 140 terms were used based on these studies [ 11 , 31 , 39 , 56 , 57 , 77 , 78 , 89 , 90 , 121 , 169 , 170 , 171 , 172 , 173 , 175 , 193 , 195 , 247 , 266 , 286 , 294 , 299 , 303 , 304 , 305 , 306 , 307 , 308 , 309 , 310 , 311 , 312 , 313 , 314 , 315 , 316 , 317 , 318 , 319 , 320 , 321 , 322 , 323 , 324 , 325 , 326 , 327 ,…”

Doping impacts of La2O3 on physical, structural, optical and radiation shielding properties of (30-x)BaCO3–30TiO2–40SiO2-xLa2O3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 6) glasses for optoelectronic applications

“…−81.00 20.90% 0.0789 Q (3) −87.00 63.75% Q (4) −96.00 15.35% BTS2L Q (2) −81.00 24.55% 0.0984 Q (3) −87.00 60.68% Q (4) −96.00 14.76% BTS4L Q (2) −81.00 26.02% 0.1098 Q (3) −87.00 59.19% Q (4) −96.00 14.79% BTS6L Q (2) −81.00 25.88% 0.1210 Q (3) −87.00 58.25% Q (4) −96.00…”

“…Recently, the applications of various types of radiation have incredibly increased in different areas like geology, agriculture, space exploration, medical, archaeology etc [1][2][3][4][5]. The radiations such as alpha, beta, gamma, x-rays, neutrons and protons can directly affect the human being with genuine health concerns like cancer, genetic damage, and human tissue destruction [6,7].…”

Aportes al estudio de la alimentación prehispánica y los cultivos andinos en el sector centro-sur de la Quebrada de Humahuaca (Argentina)

“…Incluso, vestigios del microbioma oral de los individuos pueden ser recuperados y analizados para obtener datos sobre patógenos orales o dolencias sistémicas (Tavarone et al 2020). Por lo tanto, este tipo de estudio permite conocer diferentes aspectos de la vida de los grupos estudiados como dieta, comportamiento, tecnología y salud (Lalueza Fox et al 1996;Boyadjian 2018;Power et al 2022;entre otros).…”