Can bovine tooth replace human tooth in laboratory studies? A systematic review

This systematic review searched for the evidence to use bovine teeth as substitutes for human teeth in laboratory studies testing several properties. The PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Lilacs (Bireme), BBO and Scopus electronic databases were searched to select laboratorial studies comparing the human teeth with bovine teeth. English and Spanish languages, without date restriction, were included. The search was performed using the keywords: bovine tooth, human tooth, root dentin, enamel and coronary dentin. It was retrieved 1544 potentially eligible articles. 157 articles were indicated for full-text analysis and 79 studies were excluded. At the end of the selection, 78 articles were included in the review. Of the 60 articles evaluated, 15.5% indicated bovine teeth as substitutes for human teeth in laboratory studies, 15.5% indicated substitution with caution, 31% presented the possibility of substitution, 8.7% did not indicate the substitution and 29.3% did not specify the decision. The search showed that in general there is the possibility of human tooth replacement by bovine, both for enamel and dentin substrates, in microleakage studies, organic and inorganic analysis, coefficient of thermal expansion, spectrofluorometry, hardness and microhardness, morphology and radiodensity.