The Rate of Flowu in Dentinal Tubules Due to Capillary Attraction

¹ Department of Dental Histopathology, Royal School of Dentistry, Stockholm, Sweden

Measurements were performed of the rate of rise of synovial and cerebrospinal fluids in fine-glass capillaries. After the required constants of the materials were determined, the corresponding theoretical values were calculated from Poiseuille's law. A close agreement was noted between the theoretical and observed values.

On the basis of the values for the rate of rise and for the angle of contact, the presumed rate of rise of the contents of a dentinal tubule due to capillarity was calculated. On the assumption that physical properties of the tubule contents are similar to those for synovial and cerebrospinal fluid and that the angle of contact between these fluids and dentin is the same as between the tubule fluid and the tubule wall, the rate of flow in a dentinal tubule due to capillary attraction was calculated to be about 4mm/sec at a distance of 2 mm. from the pulp.