Pulp (tooth)
The dental pulp is the part in the center of a tooth made up of living connective tissue and cells called odontoblasts. The dental pulp is a part of the dentin–pulp complex (endodontium). The vitality of the dentin-pulp complex, both during health and after injury, depends on pulp cell activity and the signaling processes that regulate the cell’s behavior.
Anatomy
Each person can have a total of up to 52 pulp organs, 32 in the permanent and 20 in the primary teeth. The total volumes of all the permanent teeth organs is 0.38cc and the mean volume of a single adult human pulp is 0.02cc. Maxillary central incisor has shovel shaped coronal pulp with three short horns on the coronal roof and triangular in cross section. Canine has the longest pulp with elliptical cross section.
The large mass of pulp is contained within the pulp chamber of the tooth. The shape of each pulp chamber corresponds directly to the overall shape of the tooth, and thus is individualized for every tooth; the pulp tissue in the pulp chamber has two main divisions: coronal pulp and radicular pulp. Crowns of the teeth contain coronal pulp. The coronal pulp has six surfaces: the occlusal, the mesial, the distal, the buccal, the lingual and the floor. Because of continuous deposition of dentin, the pulp becomes smaller with age. This is not uniform throughout the coronal pulp but progresses faster on the floor than on the roof or side walls.
