Fracture in teeth-a diagnostic for inferring bite force and tooth function
Fracture in teeth-a diagnostic for inferring bite force and tooth function
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1469-185x.2011.00181.x
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发表时间：
2011-11-01
影响因子：
10
通讯作者：
Lawn, Brian R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lee, James J. -W.;Constantino, Paul J.;Lawn, Brian R.
牙齿易碎，很容易开裂。我们建议，这种开裂的观察可以用作预测咬合力和推断活的和化石哺乳动物牙齿功能的诊断工具。对模型牙齿结构和模拟咬合中提取的人类牙齿进行的实验室测试确定了牙釉质的主要断裂模式。对博物馆标本的检查显示，在许多脊椎动物身上都存在类似的裂缝，这表明裂缝是在进食或咀嚼时扩大的。利用材料工程中的“断裂力学”，根据特征牙齿尺寸和牙釉质厚度，为量化临界咬合力提供了优雅的关系。牙釉质微结构在决定裂纹如何在牙釉质内（及外）产生和传播中的作用进行了讨论。牙齿是一种耐损伤的结构，充满了内部的弱点和缺陷，但却能够控制牙釉质外壳内看似危险的裂缝和裂缝的扩展。这些发现对饮食压力的影响形成了这项研究的暗流。
Teeth are brittle and highly susceptible to cracking. We propose that observations of such cracking can be used as a diagnostic tool for predicting bite force and inferring tooth function in living and fossil mammals. Laboratory tests on model tooth structures and extracted human teeth in simulated biting identify the principal fracture modes in enamel. Examination of museum specimens reveals the presence of similar fractures in a wide range of vertebrates, suggesting that cracks extended during ingestion or mastication. The use of 'fracture mechanics' from materials engineering provides elegant relations for quantifying critical bite forces in terms of characteristic tooth size and enamel thickness. The role of enamel microstructure in determining how cracks initiate and propagate within the enamel ( and beyond) is discussed. The picture emerges of teeth as damage-tolerant structures, full of internal weaknesses and defects and yet able to contain the expansion of seemingly precarious cracks and fissures within the enamel shell. How the findings impact on dietary pressures forms an undercurrent of the study.