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A New Technique for Screening Chemical Toxicity to the Pulp from Dental Restorative Materials and Procedures

An in vitro test system is described which allows for quick and relatively inexpensive examination of the potential for chemical toxicity to the pulp of materials and procedures used in the restoration of single teeth. The test system consisted of two sequential steps. First, a restorative procedure was carried out on a freshly-extracted human tooth crown, to the pulpal surface of which had been attached a chamber filled with sterile tissue-culture medium. The preparation was kept at 37°C. The culture medium was removed at day one and replaced with fresh medium, which was removed at day 3. In the second step, we used a standard tissue-culture toxicity assessment technique to examine both culture medium samples for the presence of chemical toxins. In use, this system gave results which correlated well with the known clinical potential for pulpal toxicity of various dental materials and techniques. For example, zinc oxide-eugenol used as temporary filling or base had no apparent potential for toxicity. Sealing a cotton pellet containing phenol into a cavity was of high apparent potential toxicity. Acrylic resin as intracoronal or extracoronal fillings showed potential for toxicity; this potential was decreased by lining with calcium hydroxide cement. Composite resin placed onto etched dentin had apparent toxic potential, but had less such potential when placed onto unetched dentin. The technique had some advantages over previously described in vitro toxicity tests for restorative materials, because it included a step requiring diffusion of potential toxins into and through human dentin, and because it allowed for examination of variations in technique which mimic clinical behavior, and of materials used in sequence or in combination.