Enamel Matrix and Crystals — Chicken and Eggs?

Abstract

This discussion is presented as an attempt to interrelate the matrix and mineral in terms of our existing knowledge as presented at this Symposium, and to relate it, where possible, to what is being accomplished in allied disciplines and research areas elsewhere. The present author is fully aware of the difficulties involved in this task and of his own inadequacies in attempting to perform it. As a general rule, with perhaps the morphologists being the exception to it, the matrix and crystal components have been investigated independently of each other. This, of course, is quite justifiable, as the presence of one can often interfere with the investigation of the other, and each needs to be examined initially in as pure a state as possible.