[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Any dentists here? I knocked a chunk off of a tooth a few years ago. Out of curiosity I looked at it under my dissecting microscope. It had little red spots in it. Is that normal for tooth material?

If you are looking at dentin those are called dentinal tubules. They may contain pulpal material or fluid and/or odontoplastic processes (extensions of pulpal cells) which in some cases could include blood material as noted above. This is the cause of tooth thermal sensitivity either due to fluid movement within the tubules or stimultion of any tissue material within them. Most sensitivity treatments are aimed at plugging these tubules or soothing the tiny neurovascular bundles via the tubules.

The odontoblasts that line the inner aspect of the pulp do have the ability to lay down secondary dentin to "wall off" an area of injury such as a chipped tooth like yours which has not chipped into the pulp itself. This process happens slowly. It's a crapshoot on whether the sensitivity/pain goes away from secondary dentin "insulating" the area or the entire pulp going necrotic as a result of the trauma. The ladder (necrotic) occurrence results in abscess development and necessity of root canal treatment. It is not uncommon in cases like yours that an abscess develops slowly over years and never causes pain until it's found on a periapical radiograph/xray by your dentist. I see such cases at least once a week since I routinely take full mouth radiographs and very few general dentists ever do (they only take bitewings).

Hope that makes sense. Most of you guys know already I'm a periodontist.