Predentin changes in patients with chronic renal failure.

Morphometric studies were carried out on teeth extracted from normal human patients and compared with those extracted from patients suffering from chronic renal failure and patients being treated by chronic hemodialysis. The findings revealed that the predentin layer in patients suffering from chronic renal failure and patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis was significantly thicker than normal. These findings suggest that predentin is the metabolic equivalent of osteoid in bone and that increases in the predentin thickness may therefore be a reliable indicator of osteomalacia. It is suggested that the term odontomalacia be used to describe the changes occurring in the dentin of these patients.