Biological Applications of Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy

Abstract Over recent years there has been relatively little experimental data produced by environmental scanning electron microscopy on biological applications. The author’s laboratory is situated in a multi-user facility based in a School of Biological Sciences and has examined a wide variety of samples over a 5 year period. The purpose of this paper is to present a number of biological applications, one in detail, in an attempt to illustrate the potential and pitfalls of the instrumentation. A study has been made of the elastic bands used in dental orthodontics as a method of moving teeth. It is common clinical practice to replace the elastic bands at 24 hour intervals as it is known that the bands lose their elasticity and thus effectiveness during this period. The present study has examined the structure of such bands at time intervals after stretching to clinically used extension on a former and immersing the bands in water.