Clinical and histologic appearance in enamel of primary teeth in relation to neonatal blood ionized calcium values.

The purpose of this investigation was to study the relationship between low values of blood ionized calcium measured in the first days of life postpartum and the clinical and histologic appearance of enamel of primary teeth. Twenty-five healthy children selected on the basis of optimality with known blood values of ionized calcium from the first days of life participated in a dental examination at the age of 5 yr. Twenty-four of the children contributed one exfoliated tooth each, which was histologically examined. The infants had lower mean values of ionized blood calcium on days 1 and 3 than day 5 postpartum. Thirteen of the 25 children had enamel aberrations, mainly on one tooth each. The histologic examination showed normal overall enamel morphology. The neonatal line was present in all teeth, and these lines were mostly thin. The registered findings about the enamel morphology could not, in any case, be correlated with the measured values of neonatal blood ionized calcium.