[Measurement and analysis of optical density in dentine of 32 primary teeth].
OBJECTIVE
To study the optical density (OD) of primary dental dentine and provide data for further research.


METHODS
The Digora system of dental digital radiography was used to acquire digital radiographic images of cross sections from 32 deciduous maxillary central incisors, and to measure the OD values of different depth (outer, middle and inner layers) and four sides (mesial, distal, labial and palatal sides) in dentine. The difference was analyzed with one-way ANOVA and SNK using SAS 6.12 software package.


RESULTS
The OD value of inner layer dentine was significantly lower than that of outer and middle layers (P=0.002), but there was no significant difference among four sides of dentine (P=0.0997).


CONCLUSIONS
OD value is an indirect physical quantity of dental mineralization, it provides a convenient digital indicator for the research of dental hard tissues.
Liu
Dan
D
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, College of Stomatology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072, China. liudan@mail.tongji.edu.cn
Yu
Fang
F
Zhao
Yu-mei
YM
D003804:Dentin; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor; D008964:Molar, Third; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous