The effect of mechanical trauma on the tooth germ of rat molars at various developmental stages: a histopathological study.

Intrusive trauma was experimentally applied to the tooth germ at different developmental stages in the rat first molar. The tooth germ at the earliest (postnatal day 1, initiating stage of enamel matrix formation) and the latest (postnatal day 10, calcifying stage of preformed enamel matrix) developmental stages studied showed localized enamel hypoplasia as a direct sequela of trauma. The tooth germs in which enamel matrix was rapidly thickening (postnatal days 3, 5, 7) and had not yet started to calcify showed the most intense and extensive injuries to the formation and structural organization of both enamel and dentin. As for indirect effects secondary to trauma, tooth germ dislocation was observed chiefly in tooth germs at the same developmental stages, frequently resulting in ankylosis. The present experimental model may be helpful for clarifying the histogenesis of traumatic changes in the developing tooth germ.