Effect of vitality on translucent dentine - a study

Sclerosis of dentinal tubules may be a response to pathological or physiological insult in the crown & root. The mechanism by which apical translucency is produced is still uncertain. The increase in size of the apical zone of sclerotic dentin in human teeth has been used often in forensic science as a method of age estimation. However, only few studies have been done to compare percentage of translucency between vital and non-vital teeth. Conflicting concepts exist regarding the amount of translucent dentin in the vital & non vital teeth and correlation of this variation with age of the subject.

To investigate the amount and distribution of apical translucent dentin in group-matched vital and non-vital teeth.

Study was conducted on 70 extracted teeth, which were subjected for vitality test before extraction, and divided into two groups (vital & non-vital teeth) with a minimum of 35 teeth in each group. Ground sections of 150µ thickness were observed under Stereomicroscope and photographed. The distribution of area and length was measured on the images captured, using PROPLUS IMAGE ANALYSIS SOFTWARE version 4.1.0.0 software.

The present study revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) in apical translucency of dentin, when both vital and non-vital teeth types were compared. There was more apical translucency present in non-vital when compared with vital teeth at any given age. Key words: Apical translucency; vital teeth; non-vital teeth. How to cite this article: Selvamani M, Madhushankari G S, Basandi P S, Donoghue M, Nayak V, Diwakar G. Effect of Vitality on Translucent Dentine - A Study. J Int Oral Health 2013; 5(2):1-7.