Usage tests should study teeth with which condition to evaluate reparative dentin formation?

• A. Pulpal necrosis
• B. Healthy pulp
• C. Induced pulpitis
• D. Pulp stones

Answer: (C)

Reparative dentin formation is a protective response by viable pulp tissue after injury. To study this process, you need a condition that provides a controlled irritant to stimulate the pulp cells to react and lay down new dentin. Inducing pulpitis creates that exact environment—the inflamed pulp activates odontoblast-like cells derived from pulp progenitors to differentiate and deposit reparative (tertiary) dentin at the injury site. This makes it possible to observe the formation and quality of reparative dentin.

Pulpal necrosis, on the other hand, involves dead tissue, so there are no viable cells left to form dentin. A healthy pulp lacks the irritant stimulus needed to trigger reparative dentin. Pulp stones are calcifications within the pulp, not dentin formed in response to injury. Thus, induced pulpitis is the condition that best enables study of reparative dentin formation.