Abstract
Controversy exists regarding the presence of mast cells in the dental pulp. As mast cells are present in other soft tissues throughout the body, their reported absence in the dental pulp seems puzzling and anomalous. Dental pulps from 10 caries-free permanent and 10 carious primary teeth were expamined for the presence of mast cells. The pulps were removed by splitting the teeth, frozen-sectioned at 5 μm, and stained for mast cells utilizing a technique which is proven to be highly selective for identification of mast cells in various tissues. Additional sections from inflamed and noninflamed pulps were stained with hematoxylin and eosin to assess the inflammatory response. The results indicated that mast cells were present in noninflamed as well as inflamed pulps. Mast cells from the inflamed pulps showed signs of degranulation with granules appearing outside the cell membrane.
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