Narrowing of the dental pulp chamber in patients with renal diseases.

Narrowing of the dental pulp chamber was studied radiologically in fifty one patients with renal diseases. Two thirds of the patients were suffering from terminal uremia and were treated either by renal transplantation or with hemodialysis. The remaining patients were nonuremic and were treated with immunosuppressants because of progressive renal disease. There were significantly more patients with narrowing of the dental pulp chamber among the transplant patients than among the other patients. The transplantations included the use of higher doses of corticosteroids than the other treatments. As the median dose of corticosteroids was higher and total plasma steroid clearance was lower in the patients with narrowing of the dental pulp chamber than in the other patients, the amount of this drug received and its pharmacokinetics seemed to be an essential factor in the initiation of narrowing of the dental pulp chamber.