Characterization of two types of human oral fibroblast with a potential application to cellular toxicity studies: tooth pulp fibroblasts and buccal mucosa fibroblasts.

Cultures of human oral buccal mucosa fibroblasts and human tooth pulp fibroblasts were established and grown under standard routine conditions. The biological characteristics of cell proliferation, growth pattern, cell morphology and enzyme release (lactate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase) were studied. Under the same standard in vitro conditions the two cell types demonstrated different growth patterns and different levels of enzyme activity. It is suggested that differences in biological characteristics should be considered when selecting appropriate cells for toxicological studies of dental materials.