Odontoblasts in the dental pulp immune response.

Recent studies have demonstrated that human dental pulp cells sense pathogens and elicit innate and/or adaptive immunity. Particular attention has been paid to odontoblasts that are situated at the pulp-dentin interface and constitute the first line of defense to cariogenic bacteria entering dentin after enamel disruption. In this review, recent in vitro and in vivo data suggesting that odontoblasts initiate immune/inflammatory events within the dental pulp in response to cariogenic bacteria are discussed.

A clinical and histological study of dental defects in a 10-year-old girl with pseudoxanthoma elasticum and amelogenesis imperfecta.

Background: The prominent dental feature of a 10-year-old girl was severely hypoplastic enamel in permanent teeth.

Case Report: Severe dental defects were detected in a 10-year-old female patient affected by pseudoxanthoma elasticum and amelogenesis imperfecta. An orthopantomographic examination revealed a reduction of enamel thickness on the crown of all erupted and unerupted teeth, agenesis of the maxillary right second premolar, delayed eruption of mandibular first premolars, and the presence of large calcifications in all tooth pulp chambers.

In vitro study of a neodynium:yttrium aluminum perovskite laser on human nonexposed pulp after cavity preparation.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate dental pulp reactions after a neodynium:yttrium aluminum perovskite laser pulse on the dentinal floor of occlusal cavities in an in vitro model.

Methods: A Lokki dt laser was used at 30 Hz, 5 W, and 160 mJ for 0.5 s.

Odontoblast primary cilia: facts and hypotheses.

Odontoblasts, the cells responsible for the dentine formation, are organized as a single layer of highly polarized and differentiated post-mitotic cells along the interface between the dental pulp and the mineralized tubules. They lay down the physiological secondary dentine throughout the life of the teeth. Odontoblasts play a central role in the transportation of calcium to the dentine and they possibly mediate early stages of sensory processing in teeth.

Notch2 protein distribution in human teeth under normal and pathological conditions.

Notch signaling is essential for the appropriate differentiation of many cell types during development and, furthermore, is implicated in a variety of human diseases. Previous studies have shown that although the Notch1, -2, and -3 receptors are expressed in developing and injured rodent teeth, Notch2 expression was predominant after a lesion. To pursue the role of the Notch pathway in tooth development and disease, we have analyzed the expression of the Notch2 protein in embryonic and adult wounded human teeth.

TGF beta 1 signaling and stimulation of osteoadherin in human odontoblasts in vitro.

Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF beta 1) is generally considered to be a potent inducer of dentin formation. In order to further assess this role, we studied the influence of this factor in human dental pulp cells on the expression of osteoadherin (OSAD), a newly described proteoglycan found in bone and dentin and suspected to play a role in mineralization events. We performed TGF beta 1 stimulation both in cultures of human tooth thick slices including mature odontoblasts and in pulp explant cultures giving rise to early secretory odontoblasts or pulpal fibroblasts.