BIOCOMPATIBILITY OF VARIOUS DENTAL MATERIALS - PULP HEALING WITH A SURFACE SEAL

Class V cavities with mechanical exposures were prepared in 178 teeth of seven monkeys to observe the temporal healing of exposed pulps in d irect contact with various dental materials, with or without a biologi c seal of zinc-oxide eugenol cement against microleakage. Thirty pulps were direct capped as calcium hydroxide controls. The remaining 148 e xposures were direct capped, 41 with silicate 39 with zinc phosphate, 33 with amalgam, and 35 with an auto-cured composite. Sixty-four were restored to their cavosurface margin with their respective material an d 84 were sealed to the cavosurface margin with zinc-oxide eugenol cem ent. Tissues were obtained by perfusion fixation at intervals of 35, 2 1, 14, 10, 5, and 3 days, and then processed and evaluated. The result s of this study demonstrated that exposed dental pulps possess an inhe rent healing capacity allowing cell reorganization and dentin bridge f ormation when adequately sealed with zinc-oxide eugenol cement to prev ent bacterial microleakage.