THE STAINING OF NERVE FIBERS IN TEETH

¹ Department of Anatomy, University of Texas School of Dentistry, Houston, Texas

The use of the Romanes¹⁷ and the Ungewitter¹⁸ silver nitrate techniques as necessarily modified for the demonstration of nerve fibers in the pulp and the dentin of adult human and matured rat teeth is discussed. In spite of numerous statements to the contrary it was possible to demonstrate that there are nerve fibers in the dentin and that in their course through this hard tissue the fibers present many varicosities and that they may terminate in so-called nerve endings. This report is tentative and further work is in process to determine the full extent of the dentinal plexus, the source of the nerve fibers, and the question of nerve endings.