ABSTRACT
Akin to the case of bone, the tooth material is a smart and remarkable hierarchically designed biocomposite that is highly resistant to cumulative deformation and fracture. The protective outer covering of tooth is the enamel. The hierarchical level of enamel is necessary to understand the fracture behavior of the tissue. Enamel prisms evolved as a consequence of the differentiation in the enamel formation cells. These cells promoted the creation of gap regions between the bundles of crystallites forming enamel prism, which are continuous from the dentine-enamel junction (DEJ). Each ameloblast cell is responsible for the formation of a single prism and also some interprismatic component. The DEJ is a scalloped interfacial surface region separating two dissimilar materials: the dentine and the enamel in teeth. Using micro-mechanics approach the stiffness of a composite can be predicted. Most of the micromechanical models are derived from the need for predicting the elastic properties.
