In 1937 Tokoro discovered and reported on the small pits of the crestal portion of human permanent molars which he named as crestal pits. SEM observation of the crestal pits on human permanent molars have already been reported by the authors. However, There has been little SEM observation of the crestal pits on human primary molars.
This paper presents the SEM observation of the crestal pits of 39 human primary molars, bilaterally on the same individual, which were obtained from 10 mandibulars dry skulls of Indian children. The results were compared with those of previously published crestal pits studies on permanent molars.
1) The crestal pits were observed in 7 mandibulars out of 10 mandibulars (70%).50 crestal pits were found in 20 teeth out of 39 observed teeth (51.3%).
2) No statistically significant difference was seen in the number of crestal pits and the number of teeth with crestal pits between the first and second primary molars.
3) Crestal pits of the human primary molars tended to be present bilaterally in the same individual.
4) Similar to that of permanent molars, the most common opening shape of crestal pits found on primary molars was the round shape (58.0%).
5) The highest concentration of crestal pits found on primary molars was located on the disto-buccal caspal portion.
6) The opening diameter of the crestal pits on primary molars was 172.2μm in average. This value is almost the same as that of permanent teeth (173.0μm).