The periodontal ligament is the tissue that connects teeth to bone. The periodontal ligament is a fascinating tissue from a cell biologist's point of view, and because of its special properties and stem-cell content it has also come into the limelight in emerging fields of regenerative medicine. An increased range of genetically modified mouse models offer new tools for studying molecular mecha...

Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate the cementogenesis process, because specific cementum markers are not yet available. To investigate whether a cementoblastoma-conditioned medium-derived protein (CP) could be useful as a cementum biological marker, we studied its expression and distribution in human periodontal tissues, human periodontal ligament, alveolar bone, and c...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Periodontal disease is a common infectious disease, found worldwide, causing the destruction of the periodontium. The periodontium is a complex structure composed of both soft and hard tissues, thus an agent applied to regenerate the periodontium must be able to stimulate periodontal ligament, cementum and alveolar bone regeneration. Recent studies demonstrated that ace...

Periodontal ligament is a thin layer of soft tissue that connects root of a tooth to the surrounding alveolar bone. These ligaments play an important role in initiating tooth movement when loads are applied to teeth with orthodontic appliances. The majority of such soft tissues exhibit as viscoelastic bodies or have a time-dependent behavior. Due to the viscoelastic behavior of the periodontal ...

OBJECTIVE To three-dimensionally elucidate the effects of occlusal hypofunction on the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone proper of rat molars by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). METHODS Occlusal function in the molar area was restricted by attaching an anterior bite plate on the maxillary incisors and a metal cap on the mandibular incisors of 5-week-old male Wistar rats for 1 week. ...

The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyze the cases of traumatic dental injuries involving root fracture and/or periodontal ligament injury (except avulsion) treated at the Discipline of Integrated Clinic, School of Dentistry of Araçatuba, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil, from January 1992 to December 2002. Clinical and radiographic records from 161 patients with 287 tra...

OBJECTIVES The mineralization of third molars has been used repeatedly as a method of forensic age estimation. However, this procedure is of little use beyond age 18, especially to determinate if an individual is older than 21 years of age; thus, the development of new approaches is essential. The visibility of the periodontal ligament has been suggested for this purpose. The aim of this work w...

Human periodontal ligament stem cells are easily accessible and can differentiate into Schwann cells. We hypothesized that human periodontal ligament stem cells can be used as an alternative source for the autologous Schwann cells in promoting the regeneration of injured peripheral nerve. To validate this hypothesis, human periodontal ligament stem cells (1 × 10(6)) were injected into the crush...

OBJECTIVE Recently, research has focused intensely on age-related tissue changes, not only in the field of dermatology but also in dental sciences. Although many new insights into age-related morphological, ultrastructural and biochemical changes in the periodontal ligament tissue have been gained, the basic question of whether there is a quantitative change in cell number remains unanswered or...

The aim of this study was to quantify and compare the production of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), interleukin (IL)-8 and IL-10 by human cultured periodontal ligament and gingival fibroblasts both obtained from the same donors challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Porphyromonas gingivalis. Fibroblasts were exposed to 0.1-10 µg/mL of LPS from P. gingivalis and after 24 h the su...