Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 5, 2005

A labeled maxillary molar

Tooth enamel is the most highly mineralized and hardest substance of the body. Enamel is one of the three major parts of the human tooth, the others being dentin and cementum. It is the normally visible dental tissue of a tooth, and must be supported by underlying dentin. Minerals compose 96% of enamel, with water and organic material composing the rest. Since enamel is semi-translucent, the color of dentin and any restorative dental material underneath the enamel highly affects the outer appearance of the tooth. The color of enamel is a light yellow to grayish white. It varies in thickness over the surface of the tooth. Often, enamel is thickest at the cusp, up to 2.5 mm, and tapers down to a minuscule amount at its border, which is seen clinically as the cementoenamel junction.

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