Comparative Study of Hydroxyapatite Prepared from Seashells and Eggshells as a Bone Graft Material

The aims of this study were to determine the physical properties of hydroxyapatite from seashells (sHA) and from eggshells (eHA), to analyze elements within sHA and eHA, and to compare the bone regeneration ability between sHA and eHA in a rat parietal bone defect model. The sHA and eHA particles had a similar morphology in scanning electron microscope images. From the Fourier-transform infrared absorbance spectra and X-ray diffraction results, both types of hydroxyapatite (HA) had the characteristics of pure HA. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy results suggested that the sHA had higher levels of sodium and strontium than the eHA, whereas the eHA had higher levels of magnesium than the sHA. In μ-CT results, the mean bone mineral density of the sHA was significantly higher than the control at 4 weeks after the operation (p = 0.012). The mean bone volume of the eHA was significantly higher than the control at 8 weeks after the operation (p = 0.012). In the histological images at 4 weeks after the operation, foreign body multinucleated giant cells were observed around the agglomerated sHA particles, while there were fewer inflammatory reactions around the agglomerated eHA particles. The eHA group showed better results in bone formation than did the sHA group in this study

Observations on pulpal response to carbon dioxide laser drilling of dentine in healthy human third molars.

Preservation of pulpal health is the primary prerequisite for successful application of laser systems in the hard tissue management of vital teeth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the short and long-term pulpal effects to cavity preparations in healthy human teeth using carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. A total of seven, healthy, third molars that were scheduled to be removed due to space problems were used. After the laser drilling, the occlusal cavities were closed temporarily, and the teeth were extracted 7 days (n=5) and 3 months (n=2) after the operation. The specimens were fixed, decalcified, subdivided and processed for light and transmission electron microscopy. Seven days postoperatively all the five teeth that had been irradiated with the CO2 laser did not reveal any pathological changes in the pulpo-dentine complex. Three months postoperatively the two teeth that were prepared with the laser showed subtle but distinct apposition of tertiary dentine that was lined with intact odontoblasts. One of the specimens at 3 months revealed the presence of a mild, but very circumscribed, pulpal infiltration of chronic inflammatory cells subjacent to the cavity preparation. The latter is unlikely to be due to a direct effect of the laser irradiation but a possible consequence of microleakage of oral antigens and/or other tissue-irritating molecules through the temporary restoration and the remaining dentine thickness (RDT). Although these preliminary histological results suggest that the CO2 laser under investigation induced only minimal response of the dentine-pulp complex when used as a hard-tissue drilling tool, with specific energy settings, pulse duration within thermal relaxation time and emitting radiations at 9.6 microm of wavelength, larger clinical trials involving various types of teeth are necessary to reach definite conclusions for large-scale clinical application of the laser device