The inorganic constituents of human teeth and bone examined by X-ray emission spectrography

Abstract

X-ray emission spectrography has been applied to study of the elemental composition of human teeth, enamel, dentine and bone. The material consisted of eight crushed teeth, enamel and dentine powder separated from eighteen teeth, and four pieces of buccal cortical mandibular bone. The teeth did not have fillings. The whole material contained nineteen elements, of which the main ones were calcium and phosphorus. In all the samples of tooth material, there were found Ca, P, Cl, Fe, Zn, Sr and K, and the bone also contained Ni. The time needed for a semiquantitative analysis compares very favourably with that needed for other methods.