Periodontal healing of exarticulated monkey teeth stored in milk or saliva

Abstract – Saliva has usually been recommended as a storage medium for exarticulated teeth. Recent tissue culture studies have, however, shown that milk has a more suitable osmolaliry than saliva and that milk is a bettter storage medium for human periodontal ligament cell. In the present investigation periodontal healing of replanted monkey teeth has been studied after storage of teeth in milk or saliva before replantation. There was much less root resorption, especially inflammatory resorption, after storage in milk thatn in saliva. Storage of teeth in milk for 3 h before replantation resulted in the same low frequence of root resorptions as was seen after immediate replantation. There was hardly any replacement resorption (ankylosis) seen in the replanted teeth.