Inflammation of the Dental Pulp
1Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
2Sichuan University, Sichuan, China
3University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
4University of Lyon, Lyon, France
5Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan
Inflammation of the Dental Pulp
Description
The dental pulp is sensitive to external factors such as microbial infection from dental caries and/or mechanical/chemical irritations during dental procedures. Dental tissue behaves differently to the other connective tissues. It is unique in a way that its soft tissues (pulp and pulp-dentin complex) are enclosed within mineralized hard tissues (enamel, dentin, and cement), and its pulp is supplied by a rich neurovascular network that regulates various inflammatory mediators. Inflammatory signals may progress to rapid degeneration and necrosis, and such events could inflict very serious damage on tissues in the body. The treatment of dental caries and the tooth abnormalities involves the cleaning and shaping of the enamel and dentin, that is, the hardest tissues in the body, thus aggravates the pulpitis.
Some known causative agents of inflammation in the dental pulp and the root apex are as follows: 1) the ingression of microorganisms through dental caries, crack, or dentinal tubules of the teeth, 2) chemical irritation from etching and/or bonding materials for adhesion of dental materials, 3) mechanical irritation during preparation in restorative procedures, and 4) TFO (trauma from occlusion) or orthodontic movement of the teeth.
Such agents may initiate the inflammatory cascades, which in turn further develop into pain and root resorption via neurogenic inflammation and hard tissue remodeling. Therefore, thorough understanding of the pulpal inflammatory mechanisms, neurogenic inflammation, and hard tissue remodeling by resorption is essential in development of proper dental procedures and immunotherapeutic agents.
We invited authors to submit original research and review articles in order to define pulpal responses to all these variables and also discuss recent advances in our understanding of dental management.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- The role of microorganisms in inflammation of the dental pulp
- New antigenic targets of the human immune response to pulpal inflammation
- New cellular and animal models to test and understand pulpal inflammation
- Role of neurogenic inflammation in the dental pulp
- Development of immunotherapeutic strategies for the pulp necrosis
- Recent advances in anti-inflammatory drugs in the dental pulp
- Recent advances in antibiotics in the dental pulp
- Mineralization in the process of pulpal inflammation
- The process of tooth root resorption during inflammation
- Role of epigenetic regulators in dental pulp inflammation