Elsevier

Journal of Endodontics

Volume 34, Issue 12, December 2008, Pages 1462-1465
Journal of Endodontics

Clinical research
The Effect of Tooth Bleaching on Substance P Expression in Human Dental Pulp

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joen.2008.09.013Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of tooth bleaching on substance P (SP) expression in healthy human dental pulp. Forty pulp samples were obtained from healthy premolars in which extraction was indicated for orthodontic reasons. Thirty of these premolars were assigned into three different tooth-bleaching protocols: group 1 (n = 10): Opalescence Xtra Boost (Ultradent Products, South Jordan, UT) (38% H2O2) for 15 minutes; group 2 (n = 10): Lase Peroxide (DMC, Brazil) (35% H2O2) activated with infrared laser diode (Biolux; BioArt, Brazil) for 3 minutes, and group 3 (n = 10): Zoom! Whitening System (Discuss Dental, Culver City, CA) (25% H2O2) light activated for 20 minutes. The remaining 10 healthy premolars serve as a control group. Teeth were anesthetized immediately after bleaching and were extracted 10 minutes later. All pulp samples were processed and SP was measured by radioimmunoassay. Greater SP expression was found in the Zoom! Whitening System, followed by the Lase Peroxide group, Opalescence Xtra Boost, and the lower SP values were for the control group. Analysis of variance showed statistically significant differences between groups (p = 0.0001). Tukey HSD post hoc tests showed significant differences in the light (p < 0.01) and laser (p < 0.05) activated bleaching systems when compared with control values. It can be concluded that light- and laser-activated tooth-bleaching systems increase SP expression in human dental pulp significantly higher than normal values.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

A descriptive comparative study was performed according to Colombian Ministry of Health recommendations regarding ethical issues in research involving human tissue. Written informed consent was obtained from each patient participating in the study. Forty pulp samples were obtained from healthy, nonsmoking human donors (18-27 years old) in whom healthy premolar extractions had been indicated for orthodontic purposes. All teeth used in this study were caries and restoration free with complete

Results

SP was found to be expressed in all pulp samples (Table 1). Highest SP levels were observed in experimental group III (Zoom! Whitening System). The mean expression for this group was 1649.52 ± 341.97 pmol SP/mg pulp tissue followed by experimental group II (Lase Peroxide activated with infrared laser diode) with a mean SP expression of 1054.66 ± 155.55 pmol SP/mg pulp tissue. The mean expression for the experimental group 1 (Opalescence Xtra Boost) was 760.23 ± 141.71 pmol SP/mg pulp tissue.

Discussion

Tooth bleaching is one of the most common procedures currently performed in contemporary dentistry. However, some controversy still exists on the safety of this procedure, showing numerous articles that defend bleaching as being innocuous to dental tissues, and, conversely, there is evidence in the literature that chemicals used for tooth bleaching have deleterious effects on pulpodentin complex (6, 7, 12, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24).

Enamel and dentin permeability allows these low–molecular-weight

References (35)

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    Moreover, these side effects may also result in decreased patient satisfaction after treatment. Several reports have provided explanations for the etiology of post-bleaching dental sensitivity, such as increased flow of dentinal fluid [6] with consequent mechanical excitation of the nerve fibers [7], as well as the oxidative effects of the treatment products on the pulp tissue [8]. When the bleaching gel comes in contact with the dental structures, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are released that diffuse through the dentinal tubules and reach the dentin-pulp complex [2,8–13], triggering an inflammatory process in these tissues [11,9–13].

  • Effect of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs for the prevention of bleaching-induced tooth sensitivity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

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    Therefore, biochemical mediators, such as bradykinin, histamine, and prostaglandins, are synthetized and released, resulting in an inflammatory process. In fact, the increased pulpal expression of substance P (a peptide neurotransmitter) after dental bleaching indicates the inflammatory process plays an important role in postbleaching sensitivity.33 Several anti-inflammatory agents evaluated in the included studies act by means of inhibiting COX-2, which is an enzyme crucial to the production of prostaglandins and other inflammatory mediators.

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