In vitro evaluation of pediatric restorative materials on human dental pulp stem cells

This in vitro study aimed to compare the cellular viability of four different restorative materials on human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). The necessary tissues of isolated hDPSCs were obtained from 10 impacted third molars of healthy individuals 19-25 years old undergoing surgical extraction. The effects of GC Fuji IX GP, GC EQUIA Forte, APA Glass Carbomer, and APA Esthetic Fill eluates on hDPSCs' viability on the first, third, and seventh days were examined by flow cytometry using an Annexin V binding assay. The cell viability ratios differed significantly between the restorative material groups (p < 0.001). When the restorative materials and the control group were compared, the control group had the highest cell viability on all experiment days, while the Glass Carbomer group had the highest percentage of viable cells of all the restorative material groups. A significant difference between days in terms of cellular viability (p < 0.001) was found. Considering the early apoptotic cell ratios, no significant difference was found between the groups and days (p > 0.05). Furthermore, based on time, except for the first day of the GC Fuji IX GP group, no statistically significant difference was observed in the early apoptotic cell ratios in each group (p > 0.05). When the rates of late apoptotic cells were compared between the groups, no significant difference was observed, except for with the control group, which had the lowest rate of late apoptotic cells (p < 0.001). However, there was a significant difference in necrotic cell ratios between groups and days (p < 0.001; p = 0.001). The lowest rates of necrotic cells were found in the control group and Glass Carbomer groups, while the rates of necrotic cells were similar among the other groups. Therefore, we concluded that APA Glass Carbomer presents the highest cellular viability among the materials.