title: Keeping the pulp alive: the pharmacology and toxicology of agents applied to dentine.
abstract: Materials applied to teeth release chemicals which may diffuse through dentine to either harm or help the dental pulp. Chemical threats are minimized by material choice or by using relatively impermeable lining or base materials which are themselves of low chemical toxicity. The most probable long-term threat to the pulp in the restored tooth is bacterial, through leakage around restorations. This may be prevented by the use of treatment sequences designed to develop an effective seal. Pulpal inflammation is treated primarily by removal of the irritant cause; inflammation may also be suppressed in the very short term by corticosteroids, and its resolution aided in the longer term by zinc oxide-eugenol preparations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, University of Sydney.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Hume
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Massey
mesh_terms: D003707:Demeclocycline / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003738:Dental Cements / Q000633:toxicity; D003763:Dental Leakage / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003764:Dental Materials / Q000633:toxicity*; D003785:Dental Pulp Capping / Q000379:methods; D003804:Dentin / Q000187:drug effects*; D003806:Dentin Permeability; D004338:Drug Combinations / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D011671:Pulpitis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014222:Triamcinolone Acetonide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015035:Zinc Oxide-Eugenol Cement / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D003738:Dental Cements; D003764:Dental Materials; D004338:Drug Combinations; D015035:Zinc Oxide-Eugenol Cement; D003707:Demeclocycline; C001527:Ledermix; D014222:Triamcinolone Acetonide