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Pulp obliteration is a very rare occurrence that is most frequently caused by trauma. A 58-yr-old female patient had a generalized pulp obliteration that involved all maxillary and mandibular teeth. One tooth was extracted due to an extensive carious lesion and it was processed by a cutting-grinding technique. It was possible to observe the complete obliteration of the pulp chamber, which was filled in part by reparative dentin and in part by a calcified tissue with a concentric layers structure with no tubular pattern. The root canals were almost completely obliterated by an amorphous calcified material.

The literature on pulpal calcifications has been reviewed. The incidence of calcified bodies in human dental pulps is probably higher than most studies have suggested because of the problem of underreporting. Two possible modes of development exist: initial calcification of isolated pulp tissue components, which may occur anytime and anywhere in the pulp tissue, and epithelio-mesenchymal interactions during odontogenesis, which may occur only in the furcation areas and near the root sheath. The composition of the calcified bodies varies.They may be composed of “ortho” dentin, nontubular “fibro” dentin or irregular calcified material. Frequently the calcified bodies are conglomerates of these different tissues. The traditional classification of true and false denticles, based on histological characteristics, is difficult to maintain in view of this complexity of composition. Clinically, pulpal calcifications most likely are symptoms, not the cause of pathosis.