Although much of this lesion is removed prior to placing a restoration the inflammation would still be present. In addition, trauma induced during cavity preparation prior to placing a restoration can result in the presence of inflammatory cells. The authors stress, however, that this does not guarantee that differences would not occur if other strains were used. On a routine basis the authors use fibroblasts rather than macrophages for several reasons, e.g. ease of handling and maintaining a cell line rather than having to obtain fresh cells, lack of animal involvement, etc. Pulp fibroblasts can be cultured as a primary diploid culture but this takes time, and the characteristics of the cells may vary from culture to culture.
Fibroblasts are probably the most important cell type.
It should be stressed that, as the two types of cell respond differently to certain toxic constituents of dental restoratives, results obtained using fibroblasts are not necessarily comparable to those obtained with macrophages. The Model Cavity system is now under consideration as an international testing method. THE TEST Dental materials have been tested from many different manufacturers and the author is in the process of liaising with others to test more materials. A method for the in vitro toxicity testing of dental restorative materials. Test methods for assessing the cytotoxicity of dental restorative materials using an in vitro model cavity system.