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Fig. 6 | BMC Oral Health

Fig. 6

From: Case report of a molar-root incisor malformation in a patient with an autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome

Fig. 6

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of the right mandibular first molar tooth (46). (a) A transversely cut crown of tooth 46 reveals that no normal pulp chamber is present except for the two empty spaces, which indicate areas where dental pulp used to be located (marked with arrows). The central part of the tooth crown is filled with an ectopic mineralized tissue of brighter and darker appearance, i.e., a CMD (× 35, SEI). On the right side, at approximately half of the height of the tooth crown, only a thin layer of aberrant dentin delimits the mineralized content of the pulp chamber from the enamel (area in rectangle B). (b) Under higher magnification, nearly direct contact between the CMD and enamel can be observed; spherical structures comprising brighter areas of the CMD are in contact with either enamel or bordering dentin (× 250, BSE). (c) Brighter tissue of the CMD consists of spherical structures resembling cells, with protruding cytoplasmic processes, surrounded by amorphous extracellular matrix (× 3500, SEI). (d) The “darker tissue” of the CMD is located between the “brighter tissue”; in these parts, blood vessels (asterisk) are visible and surrounded by dentin-like tissue (area in rectangle D; × 130, SEI). (e) Blood vessels are also found in the dentin, which is visible in the central part of the composite image (a) and is surrounded by the CMD in the area where pulp tissue is normally present (× 180, SEI). BT: “brighter tissue”; CMD: cervical mineralized diaphragm; DT: “darker tissue”

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