Abstract: This study was conducted to demonstrate the presence of bilirubin in deciduous teeth obtained from three patients with severe liver dysfunction. The diagnosis was bilirubin pigmentation of the teeth. A part of each tooth was used for histological analysis and the remaining part of the tooth was used for qualitative analysis after bilirubin extraction with a mixed solution of chloroform, methanol, and acetic acid, 30: 10: 0.5, v/v. Histological analysis of the pigmented teeth showed the presence of a green stripe in the dentine running parallel to the incremental line in two cases that had hyperbilirubinemia for a short time. On the other hand, in a case of hyperbilirubinemia for a long time, this characteristic stripe was not observed. The bilirubin extracted solution was evaporated, and the residue was redissolved in chloroform. Then its absorption spectrum was measured before and after diazo reaction. This resulted in a shift of the absorption maximum from 450 to 540 nm and indicated the enhancement of the spectrum as compared with that of normal deciduous teeth. These results indicated the presence of bilirubin in the teeth that were clinically diagnosed as bilirubin pigmented teeth.
