POST-MORTEM BACTERIOLOGIC STUDIES OF DIFFERENT AREAS OF HUMAN TEETH AND THEIR SUPPORTING STRUCTURES

AN ATTEMPT TO TRACE THE POSSIBLE PATH BY WHICH BACTERIA REACH THE PERIAPICAL REGION OF INTACT TEETH

¹ Department of Oral Diagnosis, Dental School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.

Post-mortem cultures taken from different areas of 54 human teeth in situ were compared with the bacteriologic studies of the blood stream and viscera. A similarity in respect to the frequency of positive growths and the types of organisms recovered was observed in the cultures from the periapex and the root apex with its contained pulp. Examinations of the coronal pulp and dental periosteum obtained midway between the apex and marginal gingiva rarely yielded bacteria.

While the results of these few observations permit no definite conclusions as to the avenue by which bacteria may gain access to the periapical region of teeth without marked caries or periodontoclasia, suggestive evidence points to the blood stream as being a factor of significance.