Patn Reaction to Cold Stimulus in Teeth with Experimental Fillings

Abstract

Buccal cavities prepared in one tooth of each of 19 contralateral pairs were filled with gutta percha. After a few days a similar cavity was drilled in the other tooth of the pair and both were lined and filled with amalgam. A clinical test with ice a few minutes after the fillings had been placed and again after some days showed that the tooth that had contained a gutta percha filling was much more sensitive than the other. The former cavity was also more sensitive to an air blast and probing than the one recently drilled. Histological examination disclosed local mild inflammation beneath the cavity filled with gutta percha. With one exception the teeth without gutta percha displayed no such reaction.

In a further 7 pairs both cavities were filled with gutta percha for a few days, after which additional superficial dentine in one cavity was removed and both were filled with amalgam and submitted to the thermal sensitivity test with ice. There was no significant intra-pair difference in sensitivity. In both pulps of all these pairs there was evidence of an inflammatory reaction.

The results suggest that the increase in sensitivity to cold stimulus when an amalgam filling is placed in the cavity may be due in some measure to inflammation of the pulp.