Abstract
Studies of periodontal treatments on intra-orally exposed root dentin were performed. In the first part of these studies, periodontitis-affected root dentin was compared with healthy root dentin in terms of attachment and growth of human gingival fibroblasts in vitro. In addition, these dentin specimens were histologically observed by light microscopy. Root dentin fragments (4. 4. 1mm) were prepared from extracted human healthy and periodontally-involved teeth. Each group consisted of 10 fragments. The root fragments were placed in Petri dishes and were seeded with ×105/ml fibroblasts in MEM containing 200 units/ml penicillin and 200 μg/ml streptomycin followed by incubation for 96 h. The number of cells attached and grown on fragments were counted by light microscopy after they had been fixed and stained.
The results of this study show a tendency for the number of fibroblasts on periodontitis-affected root dentin to be somewhat fewer than on healthy root dentin, though this reduction was not statistically significant. Histopathologically, differences were barely detectable in either group but bacteria were observed in a few dentinal tubules in just two cases of periodontitis-affected teeth. Our results suggest that certein substances inhibit cell attachment enabling bacteria to invade periodontitis-affected root dentin.
