Type 1 diabetes mellitus effects on dental enamel formation revealed by microscopy and microanalysis

Abstract

Background

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) largely affects children, occurring therefore at the same period of deciduous and permanent teeth development. The aim of the present work was to investigate birefringence and morphology of the secretory stage enamel organic extracellular matrix (EOECM), and structural and mechanical features of mature enamel from T1DM rats.

Methods

Adult Wistar rats were maintained alive for a period of 56 days after the induction of experimental T1DM with a single dose of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). After proper euthanasia of the animals, fixed upper incisors were accurately processed, and secretory stage EOECM and mature enamel were analyzed by transmitted polarizing and bright field light microscopies (TPLM and BFLM), energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microhardness testing.

Results

BFLM and TPLM showed slight morphological changes of the secretory stage EOECM from diabetic rats, which also did not exhibit statistically significant alterations in birefringence brightness when compared to control animals (p>0.05). EDX analysis showed that T1DM induced statistically significant little increases in the amount of calcium and phosphorus in outer mature enamel (p < 0.01) with preservation of calcium/phosphorus ratio in that structure (p > 0.05). T1DM also caused important ultrastructural alterations in mature enamel as revealed by SEM and induced a statistically significant reduction of about 13.67% in its microhardness at 80 μm from dentin-enamel junction (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

The present study shows that T1DM may disturb enamel development, leading to alterations in mature enamel ultrastructure and in its mechanical features.

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