Scanning electron microscopic study of odontoblasts and circumpulpal dentin in a human tooth.

Two combined scanning electron microscopic methods including modified fixative procedures were used for studying the morphologic aspects of the odontoblasts and the corresponding dentinal wall at different endodontic levels. The odontoblasts were tightly packed in the pulp horn, where they assumed pear-shaped profiles and, from crown to apex, successively looked spindle shaped, club shaped, and globular. Their number decreased in the pulp radicular portion, where the interglobular spaces were enlarged. The filling fibrillar material varied from crown to apex. A globular circumpulpal dentin was observed at all levels of the root canal. The tubule openings varied in number and size.