PENETRATION OF DYES IN LIVING HUMAN ENAMEL

¹ Boras, Sweden

For the participation in the life of the organism the enamel must be connected with the remaining organism through channels for assimilation. Investigations on the existence of these avenues have been made previously chiefly on extracted teeth and the results have been very divergent.

Of greater importance are investigations made to find out if substances introduced into the living organism may penetrate the enamel. Such investigations have been made by intravital dye injections and also by staining via the dentin, but as a rule they have been experiments on animals.

In the available literature there are 4 descriptions of experiments with living human teeth. Of these experiments only 2 are described as successful but the authors do not offer proof by photomicrographs.³

The investigations of the author have been carried out as dye applications in vivo in human teeth according to varying methods. Methylene blue (Merck) has been used for the stainings. In many cases the dye has been found to have penetrated limited areas of the enamel. In several instances parallel investigations with 2 teeth from the same individual, one stained in vivo and the other in vitro, show a dye dispersion more extensive in vivo than in vitro. In one individual the tooth was not extracted until after 3 months. The section tooth was found to be almost entirely discolored.

In the author's opinion the experiments show that, intra vitam, there exists a communication between the enamel and the dentin and consequently between the enamel and the remaining organism.