The diameter of dentinal tubules in human coronal dentine after demineralization and air drying. A combined light microscopy and SEM study.

The diameter of dentinal tubules after demineralization and/or air drying has been quantified using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The tubule diameter was assessed at a distance of about 1.5 mm (range 1.0-2.0 mm) from the pulp. Tubule diameter was measured in the wet state, after 10-min and 12-hour air drying as well as after critical point drying (CO2) by SEM. The results show that drying effects on tubule diameter are small in sound tissue, but are sizeable in demineralized dentine. Comparing light microscopic (wet) and SEM observations show that the differences in tubule diameter are small for sound but substantial for demineralized dentine. An important result is that in the wet state the diameters of the tubules (being 1.3 +/- 0.2 microns in sound dentine) are 2.5 +/- 0.3, 2.2 +/- 0.3 and 1.7 +/- 0.2 microns after 1, 2 and 3 weeks of demineralization, respectively. The decreased tubule diameter with increasing demineralization may be important for permeability and transport phenomena in dentine caries and presumably in hypersensitivity.