A CRITICAL MICROSCOPIC TECHNIC APPLIED TO STUDY OF HUMAN DENTIN

¹ Dental School, University of Pennsylvania, Phila., Pa. and the Medical School, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Some of the essential requirements for obtaining accurate resolutions and photomicrographs of minute objects which approach the limits of vision have been discussed. Resolutions failing to meet these essential requirements not only serve as illustrations in modern text books but they have been used as objective proof for certain theories and hypotheses concerning the structure of the dentin. Failure to meet these essential requirements is shown by the corona effects in the photomicrographs and the stated method of illumination which was used for their production.

Our resolutions of thin sections of stained and unstained, decalcified and ground sections of human dentin reveal structural differences from those commonly illustrated. The selection of our material, the photomicrographic and the histologic technics employed lead us to believe that the microscopy of the human dentin, and perhaps other dental tissues, should be reconsidered using accurate and refined technical methods. No attempt has been made to interpret the structures depicted.