Quantitative histological analysis of the human coronal dentine in dentinogenesis imperfecta types I and II

The coronal dentine of 3 teeth from dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) type I, 9 teeth from DI type II and 4 controls were examined by a quantitative histological technique. In each case, two representative demineralized sections, one stained in H + E and the other in Schmorl's picrothionin were used. The relative amount of dentinal tubule, atubular dentine and canals/clefts were assessed using the point-counting method. Three basic patterns of distribution of tubules were observed. Pattern 1 formed the largest group and showed a gradual decrease in tubule count from enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) pulpwards, pattern 2 was characterized by a drop in tubule count approximately midway between EDJ and pulpal border, and pattern 3 exhibited a gradual increase in tubule score as the pulp was approached. At the 5 per cent level, both patterns 1 and 2 were found to be statistically significant. Pattern 3 was statistically insignificant for the test specimens and highly significant for the controls. The variation in the distribution of the tubules in coronal dentine in this study indirectly supports the concept of abnormal dentinogenesis in DI attributable to a diminution or lack of normal functional odontoblasts.