Radiodensity of enamel and dentin of human, bovine and swine teeth

Several studies have aimed to evaluate the characteristics of hard dental tissues from animal species in order to adequately substitute the usage of human teeth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiodensity of enamel and dentin of human, bovine and swine teeth. Five specimens of 2 mm in thickness were obtained from human, bovine and swine teeth and the radiographic images were taken positioning it on a phosphor plaque digital system, Digora (Soredex, Helsinki, Finland). The radiodensity of each specimen was obtained and data were compared by ANOVA following Tukey test (P<0.05). The results showed that human and bovine enamel presented similar radiodensity, which was higher than the one from swine enamel; bovine and swine dentin presented similar radiodensity, and only bovine dentin presented greater similarity to human dentin. Bovine teeth seems to be more similar to human teeth in respect to radiodensity.