Pulp calcifications in traumatized primary incisors. A morphological and inductive analysis study

The purpose of this study was to investigate histopathological changes in primary teeth following trauma, and to look for possible correlations between the morphology of pulpal calcification and clinical findings. The material consisted of 123 primary teeth from 98 Danish children aged 9-108 months (mean age 33.5 +/- 19.7 months) at the time of injury. The specimens were analyzed by means of light and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Data from the clinical investigation and from predetermined ranked parameters from the histological analysis were processed in a computerized inductive analysis program. The results, describing patterns of co-variation, are presented as a decision tree. The most common diagnosis was intrusion luxation (54%). In 41% of all teeth, the degree of obliteration was less than 1/4 of the pulpal lumen. In most cases (79%), no denticles were visible. When present, 80% of the denticles had a bone-like appearance. Tissues occluding the pulpal lumen were either dentin-like (49%), bone-like (19%), or fibrotic (9%). It could be concluded that these varying responses could not be correlated with explicit clinical diagnoses. However, in certain combinations, histological parameters could be correlated to clinical findings.