[Maturation of enamel and tooth eruption].

The tertiary maturation of the erupting tooth needs much more time than it is supposed in literature. Possibly the completion is in accord with the decline of the caries activity at the end of the second decade of lifetime. With the aid of polarizing microscopy, electron microprobe, microhardness testing (Vickers) and scanning electron microscopy different stages of posteruptive maturation from human and other mammalian teeth were analysed. The mineralization level in the outer surface of human enamel is completing little by little in more than 5 years after eruption. This state is in the ruminant tooth obvious never within reach in consequence of the specific physiological conditions. The maturating mineralization after our preliminary findings is fundamentally different to remineralization.