The effect of calcium carbonate on pulptomy

Objectives: Pulp therapy is quite frequently performed in children. The calcium hydroxide agent is used for pulpotomy in primary and permanent teeth. The calcium hydroxide agent is an effective in inducing hard tissue formation, and is also considered to be less toxic, however, calcium hydroxide is a strong alkalinity, and produce a necrotized layer in pulp tissue at the incised surface immediately below the agent. Calcium carbonate is a pH of neutral and it is superior biocompatibility. Micro CT can observe the individual animal over a long experimental period and to compare changes in pulp tissue in relation to growth without considering individual differences. The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of calcium carbonate with calcium hydroxide. To evaluate the usefulness of calcium carbonate as a pulp-capping agent, the agents are compared with a calcium hydroxide agent that is generally used for pulptomy. Methods: The experimental animals were 5 weeks old male Wistar rats (40 rats). Pulpotomy was performed by calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate agents. Every experiments were used upper left first molar. The treated region was observed in the individual rat by micro CT examined at 0, 7, 14, 28 days after pulpotomy. Following dehydrating and paraffin embedding, the specimens were serially sectioned at 5µm on a microtome. The sections stained hematoxylin-eosin were observed with microscope. Results: Histopathological and micro CT findings showed that a hard tissue like structure was observed by both agents and the value of density of the structure caused by calcium carbonate was significantly dense than that by calcium hydroxide based on micro CT value. Besides, calcium carbonate developed no necrotic layers, and less inflammation improved at an earlier stage. Conclusion: As calcium carbonate agent cause the degree of the formation of dentin-like tissue and less inflammatory change in the pulp tissue by examined micro CT radiographically and histopathology, the agent is seemed good material for pulpotomy.