Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of mechanically exposed dental pulps which had been capped with three dissimilar materials: a bioactive ceramic (Bioglass®), autologous demineralized dentin matrix (DDM), and a calcium hydroxide product (Life®), with Teflon® discs as controls. Mechanical dental pulp exposures were made after preparation of deep buccal Class V cavities in 48 teeth in four miniature swine. The exposures were capped and the cavity preparations restored with zinc oxide-eugenol (IRM) cement. The animals were killed after 90 days, the coronal 2/3 of the teeth removed, and sections prepared for either histological or microradiographic examination. The pulpal inflammatory reactions and the degree of reparative dentin formation were assessed from demineralized serial sections. A qualitative assessment of the degree of mineralization of the reparative dentin was made from microradiographs of undecalcified sections. The observations suggest that reparative dentin formation occurs under a variety of pulp-capping materials, but the structure of the reparative dentin varies with the material and the condition of the underlying pulp.
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