Frictional Ablation — a Neglected Factor in the Mechanisms of Hard Tissue Destruction?

Abstract

Ten years ago, in my preface to “Mechanisms of Hard Tissue Destruction” (SOGNNAES, 1963), I discussed the degree to which mechanical friction may be involved in destructive biological mechanisms affecting such solid structures as rocks, corals, shells, antlers, bone, ivory, cementum, dentin, and enamel. Whereas the living culprits of destruction may be identified at the “scene of the crime” — be they rock and shell boring sponges, mollusks, snails, octopods and worms, or osteoclastic giant cells, fungi, algae and bacteria — the precise manner in which these biological systems operate in immediate juxtaposition to the disintegrating surfaces, presents great difficulties in observations, often subject to conflicting interpretations.