Abstract

Objective: Many studies reported that the subjective clinical and radiographic examination lack the accuracy about the biological status of the pulp tissue. cytokines produced by dental pulp cells may reflect the degree of pulpal inflammation. The purpose of this study is to Correlate the cytokine levels of (IL-1α, IL-6, and IL-8) present in coronal dental pulp of primary molars with the success rate of MTA based vital pulpotomy over 18 months follow up period. Methods: 40 primary molars were enrolled. The cases are divided into group A (caries level code 5), group B (caries level code 6). Blood and pulp tissue were collected from the pulp cavity by sterile cotton pellet. The pellet was placed in 0.5ml (500 µl) phosphate buffered saline solution (PBS) to 1/10 final volume in a heparin-coated tube. Levels of cytokines IL-1 α, IL-6 and IL-8 were measured by using ELISA. Results: We found that IL-1 α, IL-6 and IL-8 were significant higher in group (B) than in (A). IL-6 showed the most significant value of expression in comparison to IL-1 α and IL-8 (p-value: 0.011, 0.014 & 0.027 respectively) which denote the prominent role of IL-6 during the inflammatory process in the pulp tissue of primary molars. Conclusion: IL-1 α, IL-6 and IL-8 cytokine expression in primary pulp molars increase with caries progression. Although the significant difference in the cytokine level expression between group A and B, a high success rate of MTA vital pulpotomy was found during the follow up period in both groups.