Background: The problem of effective treatment of dentin hypersensitivity is still valid and not fully resolved.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential toxicity against body tissues of an experimental preparation which is supposed to reduce dentin hypersensitivity and to compare it to a commercial formulation Seal & Protect (Dentsply) by means of measuring the activity of mitochondrial dehydrogenases (the MTT assay).
Material and methods: The study used an original protective formulation which is supposed to eliminate hypersensitivity of dentin. A commercial preparation Seal & Protect (Dentsply) was used as the comparative material. Cytotoxic activity of the tested preparations (experimental and commercial) on murine lymphocyte cells CCL-1™ (NCTC clone 929) was determined in indirect contact with the use of the MTT test that measured the activity of the mitochondrial dehydrogenase enzyme.
Results: A comparison of the results obtained in the MTT assay for the commercial preparation Seal & Protect (Dentsply) and the experimental formulation indicates that an experimental formulation has considerably lower cytotoxicity before polymerization, when compared to the commercial formulation, regardless of its dilution. However, after the polymerization of the commercial formulation was completed, its parameters improved significantly, especially for higher dilution values (1 : 10 and 1 : 15). Results for the experimental formulation are higher, particularly for the dilution value of 1 : 5. The overall summary of the results obtained from the MTT assay for the commercial preparation Seal & Protect (Dentsply) and the experimental formulation indicates that the experimental formulation had a significantly lower cytotoxicity before polymerization in comparison with the commercial formulation, regardless of dilution.
Conclusions: Estimating the biocompatibility of a given material is not simple, and measurement methods are rapidly evolving, as more and more is known about the interaction between dental materials and oral tissues, and also as a result of improvements in testing techniques.
Keywords: cytotoxicity tests; dentine; hypersensitivity.