Potential novel strategies for the treatment of dental pulp-derived pain: pharmacological approaches and beyond
Date
2019
Type:
Article
item.page.extent
16 p.
item.page.accessRights
item.contributor.advisor
ORCID:
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
item.page.isbn
item.page.issn
item.page.issne
item.page.doiurl
item.page.other
item.page.references
Abstract
The diagnosis and management of pain is an everyday occurrence in dentistry, and its
effective control is essential to ensure the wellbeing of patients. Most tooth-associated
pain originates from the dental pulp, a highly vascularized and innervated tissue, which
is encased within mineralized dentin. It plays a crucial role in the sensing of stimuli from
the local environment, such as infections (i.e. dental caries) and traumatic injury, leading
to a local inflammatory response and subsequently to an increase in intra-pulp pressure,
activating nerve endings. However, thermal, chemical, and mechanical stimuli also have
the ability to generate dental pulp pain, which presents mechanisms highly specific
to this tissue and which have to be considered in pain management. Traditionally, the
management of dental pulp pain has mostly been pharmacological, using non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and opioids, or restorative (i.e. removal of dental caries), or a combination of both. Both research areas continuously present novel and creative approaches. This includes the modulation of thermo-sensitive transient receptor potential cation channels (TRP) by newly designed drugs in pharmacological research, as well as the use of novel biomaterials, stem cells, exosomes and physical stimulation to obtain pulp regeneration in regenerative medicine. Therefore, the aim of this review is to present an up-to-date account of causes underlying dental pain, novel treatments involving the control of pain and inflammation and the induction of pulp regeneration, as well as insights in pain in dentistry from the physiological, pharmacological, regenerative and clinical perspectives
Description
item.page.coverage.spatial
item.page.sponsorship
Citation
Frontiers in pharmacology, 2019, vol. 10, n° 1068, 1-16
Keywords
Dentistry, Pain, Dentin, Dental caries, Regenerative medicine, Pharmacology, Collagen