vitality of dental pulp is essential for long-term tooth survival. the aim of vital pulp therapy is to maintain healthy pulp tissue by eliminating bacteria from the dentin-pulp complex. there are several different treatment options for vital pulp therapy in extensively decayed or traumatized teeth. pulp capping or pulpotomy procedures rely upon an accurate assessment of the pulp status, and car...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to repeat a 1997 survey of current pulp therapy practice. METHODS The directors of dental school predoctoral pediatric dentistry programs (N=56) and board certified pediatric dentists (N=1200) were surveyed in 2005. RESULTS More dental schools (83%) taught indirect pulp therapy (IPT) compared to 1997. Significantly more used glass ionomer for IPT with m...

This study was performed to verify the possibility of MTA and calcium sulfate as a pulp capping agent through comparing the dental pulp response in dogs after capping with MTA, calcium sulfate, and calcium hydroxide. 24 teeth of 2 dogs, 8 month old, were used in this study. Under general anesthesia, cervical cavities were prepared and pulp was exposed with sterilized #2 round bur in a high spee...

Potential applications for gene-based tissue engineering therapies in the oral and maxillofacial complex include the delivery of growth factors for periodontal regeneration, pulp capping/dentin regeneration, and bone grafting of large osseous defects in dental and craniofacial reconstruction. Part 1 reviewed the principals of gene-enhanced tissue engineering and the techniques of introducing DN...

An intense stimulus can cause death of odontoblasts and initiate odontoblastic differentiation of stem/progenitor cell populations of dental pulp cells (DPCs), which is followed by reparative dentin formation. However, the mechanism of odontoblastic differentiation during reparative dentin formation remains unclear. This study was to determine the role of β-catenin, a key player in tooth develo...