CHAPTER IV 

 THE DENTAL PULP 



DEPARTING from the more usual method of treating the 

 subject, it may be better to consider the formation and 

 structure of the pulp before proceeding to a description 

 of the dentine, as it is the formative organ of the dentine 

 and in intimate relation with it in the completed tooth. 

 The dental pulp does not disappear as a complete organ 

 during the functional life of the tooth, as does the enamel 

 organ after the completion of the enamel. The pulp, with 

 its cells, nerves, and blood-vessels, maintains the nutrition of 

 the dentine during the whole period of its functional activity. 



The main supporting structure of the pulp is the connective Con 

 tissue. This is of the myxomatous or gelatinous variety, 

 similar to the Wharton's jelly of the umbilical cord, although 

 also containing ordinary fibrous connective tissue. 



As stated by Schafer (SO), the manner in which these 

 connective-tissue fibres arise is by no means clear, and two 

 distinct and opposed views are held by histologists upon the 

 subject. 



The pulp of the tooth in early stages of its development 

 is chiefly made up of embryonic mesodermic cells, and 

 those which give rise to connective tissue are known by the 

 name of mesenchyme cells (Hertwig). These cells possess 

 very large nuclei and are surrounded by a very small amount 

 of cytoplasm. They are furnished with many protoplasmic 

 prolongations or branches, and lie in an albuminoid or 

 mucoid ground substance of a jelly-like consistency. 



According to some histologists, as Waldeyer (33) and 

 Fleming (7), the fibres are processes of the cells, but it is 

 considered by Kolliker, Ranvier (25), and others, that the 

 fibres arise within the intercellular substance. F. Mall (19) 

 and Haidenhain (9) hold that the ground substance is as 

 much a portion of the cell network or ' syncytium ' as the 

 substance of the cell itself, and that the fibres arise in this, 

 which they term the exoplasm, distinguishing it from the 



