Occasionally the teeth of a deceased person may be noted to have pinkish colored teeth.
Features of a cadaver with pink teeth:
(1) Typically the person has been dead for at least 1 week, often longer.
(2) There is typically evidence of putrefaction.
(3) The pink color appears to be due to leakage of hemoglobin into the dentinal tubules with subsequent breakdown.
(4) It may be more common when the head is dependent (postmortem livor).
(5) The color may be more intense in teeth with higher vascularity of the dental pulp.
It has been reported with:
(1) drowning
(2) sudden death
The presence of pinkish teeth is nonspecific and cannot be used for evidence of any particular cause of death.
The differential diagnosis is a surface pigmentation to the teeth from a reddish dye.
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Specialty: Clinical Laboratory, Otolaryngology
