Cloos [33] investigated the effect of pulverisation on the composition of human
dentine extracts by comparing the amino acid profiles of powdered dentine and dentine
shards from the same teeth. A ‘‘collagen-like’’ profile [containing high levels of Gly,
with Pro and hydroxyproline (Hyp) present] was obtained from extracts of the powder,
whereas the shard extract composition was characteristic of noncollagenous proteins
(NCPs), being enriched in Asp, Glu and Ser. Pulverisation increased the amount of
extracted organic material and the extract contained much more soluble collagen, but the
carbohydrate which could be detected in the shard extract was absent after pulverisation.