The Dental Pulp

This book provides a detailed update on our knowledge of dental pulp and regenerative approaches to therapy. It is divided into three parts. The pulp components are first described, covering pulp cells, extracellular matrix, vascularization and innervation as well as pulp development and aging. The second part is devoted to pulp pathology and includes descriptions of the differences between reactionary and reparative dentin, the genetic alterations leading to dentinogenesis imperfecta and dentin dysplasia, the pulp reaction to dental materials, adverse impacts of bisphenol A and the effects of fluorosis, dioxin and other toxic agents. The final part of the book focuses on pulp repair and regeneration. It includes descriptions of various in vitro and in vivo (animal) experimental approaches, definition of the pulp stem cells with special focus on the stem cell niches, discussion of the regeneration of a living pulp and information on new strategies that induce pulp mineralization.

A comprehensive guide for dentists to the inner, living part of teeth, with the goal of avoiding injury to it from dental procedures. Explores such topics as development, circulation, nerves and pain, physical and biological irritants, and restorations and caps. Thoroughly updated since the 1984 second edition. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Nearly three decades ago, Samuel Seltzer and I. B. Bender pioneered the concept of developing biologically based recommendations for the clinical practice of endodontics and restorative dentistry. This concept was the cornerstone of their classic textbook, "The Dental Pulp". "Seltzer and Bender's Dental Pulp" represents the evolution of that book and of the philosophical principles on which it was based. Today we know that pulp tissue plays a central role in both local and systemic health. This book presents the latest research on the dental pulp and its interaction with other tissues. Each chapter provides an introduction to its major themes for the busy clinician or dental student, as well as a set of biologically based clinical recommendations for restorative and endodontic procedures. Practicing clinicians need this information to provide accurate diagnoses and effective treatment to their patients.

This book presents a circumspective overview and update of the present existing knowledge of the biology, chemistry and pathophysiology of the dental pulp. It details numerous observations of a group of highly specialized investigators who have united in the common purpose of presenting their observations for the benefit of clinicians, teachers, researchers and students. Fortunately, the dental literature presents abundant research findings about pulp biology and the pulp's responses to various stimuli. This abundance has resulted in an increased interest and expansion of research on this subject. For example, publications abound on the response of pulp tissue to various medications and to a variety of types of dental materials which may be placed near to or at some distance from the pulp through the medium of dentine. One of the reasons the pulp is of such interest is that it not only provides the vitality to the teeth but also produces the dentine - both the primary and secondary, as well as reparative. The latter-type dentine is a result of the pulp's functions in response to disease as the former dentine is in response to health. As an example, some investigators have reported the effects of cutting of dentine and the placement of restorations in dentine which in turn reflect changes on the pulp tissue. These reports have raised a number of questions, which in turn have created a need for answers.