An investigation of the effects of mellitic acid on hydroxyapatite.

The effects produced on the solubility and crystal growth of hydroxyapatite by the condensed phosphates and the diphosphonates are essentially physicochemical in nature. Other poly-anions, may, on this same basis, produce similar effects. Mellitic acid (benzene hexacarboxylic acid), in dilute solution, was taken up by hydroxyapatite in the presence of excess phosphate and was not significantly displaced by it. Mellitic acid treatment of hydroxyapatite inhibited its ability to "seed" metastable solutions of calcium phosphate. Mellitic acid, which has already been shown to be an effective inhibitor of dental calculus in experimental animals may also have some other properties that could be of advantage to its use in humans.