The in vitro assessment of the cytotoxicity of dental materials–does it have a role?

Cytotoxicity of hard and soft denture lining materials

“…Cell culture studies are a very sensitive method that investigates toxicity in a simplified system so as to minimize the effect of confounding variables 7) . As the first step in the biocompatibility evaluation of dental materials, cell culture methods are widely endorsed as a relatively simple, reproducible, and cost-effective technique which can be carefully controlled 8) . Various cell types can be used to quantitatively investigate the cytotoxicity of dental materials and to evaluate different biological endpoints 9,10) .…”

Positive control for cytotoxicity evaluation of dental vinyl polysiloxane impression materials using sodium lauryl sulfate

“…However, even though there were few reports of adverse foreign body reactions by the VPS [23,24], especially when pieces of materials were left behind to come in contact with tissue for a long period of time, such cases were very rare considering the length of time VPS has been used in dentistry. Also, most of animal studies have shown no toxic reactions towards such VPS [11], which contraindicated the in vitro studies and demand new ways of testing the in vitro cytotoxicity test for VPS, in terms of prediction of biological reactions by such materials for both animal and patient studies. Hence, in this study, the positive control material for VPS was developed using SLS, which could be used to provide reference to the cytotoxicity results as well as the possibility of correlating the in vitro results to the in vivo results.…”

“…These results were variable according to the type of cells used and the method of in vitro test carried out [10]. Also, and more importantly, results on animal studies often contraindicated the results by in vitro studies, which means manufacturers often undergo unnecessary additional animal studies for the acceptance of their product [11].…”

Evaluation of the cytotoxicity of different root canal sealers on L929 cell line by MTT assay

“…Alternatively, in vitro tests are used to screen and assess biological risks posed by medical materials such as root canal filling materials, because in vitro short-term cytotoxicity is predictive of the longer-term for many types of dental materials 22) . However, although in vitro tests are faster and less expensive than in vivo tests, they do not comprehensively simulate in vivo conditions and the results obtained may not be relevant for the clinical setting 23) . In the case of MTT assay, Bryan et al 24) emphasized that it reduces undue discriminations as its test conditions clinically correspond to a classical filling.…”