Pink teeth of the dead: II. Minor variations

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dc.contributor.authorVan Wyk C.W.
dc.date.accessioned2011-05-15T16:01:59Z
dc.date.available2011-05-15T16:01:59Z
dc.date.issued1988
dc.description.abstractOne hundred and seventy five ground sections of teeth removed for age determination from unidentified bodies were reviewed. The causes of death were motor vehicle accidents, murders, train accidents, natural causes, gunshot wounds, fires, drownings, suicides, explosions and unknown causes. The period after death at the time of the extractions ranged from 1 day to over 21 days and were unknown in some cases. In addition, 20 sections of freshly extracted teeth from patients undergoing treatment were studied after preparation in batches of 5 on day 4, 10, 15 and 20 after extraction. Forty five of the 175, and none of the 20 freshly extracted teeth depicted a dark discoloration of the pulp. The discoloration involved the coronal, the radicular or the whole pulp. The discoloured material consisted of structureless pulp tissue, prominent darkly pigmented vessels or both. Staining of the dentine was present in 13 specimens, always in relation to the discoloured part of the pulp and occurred only in those teeth where the pulpal tissues were homogeneously discoloured. No statistical correlation could be found between causes of death, period after death or any of the pulpal features associated with staining. It is concluded that when teeth appear pink clinically they represent the most prominent form of post-mortem staining and that a spectrum of minor staining patterns of the pulp and dentine exists.
dc.description.versionArticle
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology
dc.identifier.citation6
dc.identifier.citation2
dc.identifier.issn0258414X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/12250
dc.subjectautopsy
dc.subjectcause of death
dc.subjectdecolorization
dc.subjectdentin
dc.subjectfatality
dc.subjectfemale
dc.subjectforensic identification
dc.subjecthistology
dc.subjecthuman
dc.subjecthuman cell
dc.subjectmale
dc.subjectnormal human
dc.subjectpreliminary communication
dc.subjecttooth
dc.subjectDental Pulp
dc.subjectDentin
dc.subjectForensic Dentistry
dc.subjectHuman
dc.subjectPigmentation
dc.titlePink teeth of the dead: II. Minor variations
dc.typeArticle
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