HUMAN PULPAL RESPONSE TO HYDROXYAPATITE AND A CALCIUM HYDROXIDE MATERIAL AS DIRECT CAPPING AGENTS

Forty maxillary and four mandibular first premolars that were to be ex tracted for orthodontic reasons were used in this study to evaluate hu man pulpal response to hydroxyapatite and Dycal as direct capping mate rials. After the postoperative periods of 2 days, 30 days and, 60 days , teeth were extracted and prepared for the histologic examination. Th e results of this study showed that hydroxyapatite does not induce har d tissue bridging at the exposure site in human dental pulp. No hard t issue bridging at the exposure site was observed in any of the teeth c apped with hydroxyapatite. Moderate infiltration of the inflammatory c ells was seen generally in the teeth capped with hydroxyapatite. Howev er, this study has verified that exposed human dental pulp will heal u nder Dycal application with hard tissue bridging and with none or mini mal inflammatory response.