Ultrastructure of initial calcification on exposed human pulp applied with autogenous dentin fragments

Initial calcification in human dental pulp has been studied with electron microscopy in 20 human teeth over a period of 21 days following pulp exposure and capping with autogenous dentin fragments. Five days after operation, dentin fragments were surrounded by degeneration cells and inflammatory cells. Occasionally a macrophage that had phagocytosed a dentin fragments was observed. Fourteen days after operation, osmiophilic needle-like crystalline structures were found in spherical bodies in the collagen fibrils or on the dentin surface. Ca and P were detected in these needle-like crystalline structures by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. They tended to increase in size and to fuse together to form mineralizing globules with the passage of time. Initial calcification around the dentin fragments developed various patterns, including spherical bodies in the collagen fibrils and direct apposition of needle-like crystals on the dentin fragments.