Histopathological characteristics of primary teeth in pre-term very low birth-weight child: Case report

Several studies have reported that the prevalence of enamel hypoplasia in pre-term low birth-weight children is higher than that in normal birth-weight children. However, the features of primary teeth dentin in pre-term low birth-weight children are rarely reported. We clinically examined a pre-term very low birth-weight child, and performed histopathological examinations of the extracted primary incisors. Hypomineralized enamel was observed in the permanent upper central incisors, while enamel defects were not detected in primary teeth. In the histopathological examinations, several features of dentin defects, such as irregular dentinal tubules and globular dentin, were observed on the pulpal side of dentin. These findings indicated that dentin formation in the present low birth-weight children was mainly affected during the natal and postnatal periods. Our results provide the evidence that tooth formation in low birth-weight children is affected by postnatal systemic derangement.