title: Abnormal immune response to infection of the dental pulp. Report of a case.
abstract: The following case illustrates an unusual response by the dental pulp to caries in an immunodeficient patient. The patient, a 14-year-old boy, suffered from thymic dysplasia and IgA deficiency. Deep dentinal caries produced relatively little destruction of the pulp and only a mild inflammatory response, in spite of the presence of a large number of bacteria in the pulp chamber. The patient's immunologic disorder was diagnosed as hereditary combined immunodeficiency of unknown type. However, it may have been a variant of Nezelof's syndrome.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D011671:Pulpitis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology