Determination of ABO blood grouping from dentine and pulp by absorption-elution technique

Abstract

Introduction: Blood grouping has been one of the cornerstones of identification of biological material. Mostly, teeth and bones are the only significant tissues remaining in mass disasters such as aircraft crash or bomb blasts and hence used in human identification. It has also been suggested that blood group antigens in the pulp and dentine are preserved even up to 2 years after death of an individual. Aim: In the present study, an attempt was made to determine the ABO blood grouping from the dentine and pulp by absorption-elution (AE) technique. Materials and Methods: The study group included 60 patients requiring extraction due to periodontal or orthodontic purposes. Extraction procedure was carried out under local anaesthesia following an aseptic protocol. After extraction, the socket blood was collected for blood group determination which served as control for the study. The blood grouping was performed by AE technique using powdered dentine and dental pulp. Statistical Analysis: The statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19, SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA. The statistical analysis for comparison of teeth component with ABO blood groups with the age period and gender differentiation was done using Chi-square test. P < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Out of 60 samples tested for ABO blood grouping, dentine and pulp showed no significant difference with age and gender; results were more positive in the age group in which individuals were <20 years of age with the sensitivity decreasing with increasing age of the participants while pulp was better than dentine in expressing ABO antigens. Conclusion: On the basis of the results obtained from the present study, it could be concluded that both dentine and pulp are reliable sources of blood group determination for ABO blood grouping where teeth happen to be the only remnants available for personal identification.