Influences of Dentinal Fluids on Experimental Caries

¹ University of Missouri at Kansas City, School of Dentistry, Kansas City, Missouri

A comparison was made between dental caries in teeth treated to create the equivalent of pulpless teeth and vital teeth of rats. In order to create the equivalent of pulpless teeth, the coronal pulp was obliterated and the pulp chamber filled in 200 animals in the experimental group. A group of 75 untreated animals served as controls. All animals were maintained on a cariogenic diet for 100 days.

The teeth treated to produce the equivalent of pulpless teeth were more resistant to dental caries than teeth with vital pulps. There were statistically significant decreases in both the incidence and severity of caries in the treated teeth.

Since the treated teeth failed to form reparative dentin, fractures frequently occurred. These fractures permitted the accumulation of food debris and micro-organisms within the pulp chamber. In these instances it appeared that the micro-organisms, morphologically characteristic of streptococci, entered the dentinal tubules from the pulpal openings and progressed outward toward the surface.