Electron microscope study of the dental pulp of lepromatous patients.

Stud ies of histopathologic changes in denta l lesions of leprosy patients were reported by Kitami (6), Tochihara and Murakami Cl), Hirashita (~,:I) , T ajiri and Kamio (X), I takura ( .1), Kamio (f.), and Asano (1). Most of the papers of these authors were published during the period before sulfones were used in Japan, On ly the paper of Asano belongs to the later period, when sulfones were employed commonly in the trea tment of leprosy, Almost all of the authors named exa mined the teeth of autopsied cases of leprosy; only a few used teeth extracted from patients, This paper reports elec tron microscope observations of the dental pulp of lepromatous patients, In the study we could see the details of leprosy bacilli and lepra cells in dental pulp more clearly than was possible in the histopathologic studies of the authors named above,