Biocompatibility of various dental materials: pulp healing with a surface seal

Class V cavities with mechanical exposures were prepared in 178 teeth of seven monkeys to observe the temporal healing of exposed pulps in direct contact with various dental materials, with or without a biologic seal of zinc-oxide eugenol cement against microleakage. Thirty pulps were direct capped as calcium hydroxide controls. The remaining 148 exposures were direct capped, 41 with silicate, 39 with zinc phosphate, 33 with amalgam, and 35 with an auto-cured composite. Sixty-four were restored to their cavosurface margin with their respective material and 84 were sealed to the covosurface margin with zinc-oxide eugenol cement. Tissues were obtained by perfusion fixation at intervals of 35, 21, 14, 10, 5, and 3 days, and then processed and evaluated. The results of this study demonstrated that exposed dental pulps possess an inherent healing capacity, allowing cell reorganization and dentin bridge formation when adequately sealed with zinc-oxide eugenol cement to prevent bacterial microleakage.