Thirty sound impacted teeth were obtained from healthy individuals as healthy controls. The patient group included another 30 sound impacted teeth obtained from chronic HCV–infected patients. The coronal pulp tissues were carefully removed, fixed, and processed to be stained with hematoxylin-eosin, alcian blue (2.5)/periodic acid–Schiff, van Gieson, and fibronectin.
The tissue sections of chronic HCV patients revealed disorganized pulp tissue, chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate, thickening, stenosis and occlusion of large-sized blood vessel arteriole, and collapsed venule and lymphatic system. The acidic, neutral, and mixed mucins were increased, whereas the amount of collagen was decreased, accompanied with marked decrease in the distribution and quantity of fibronectin glycoprotein. Application of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there were statistically significant changes between the 2 groups (P ≤ .05).
The coronal tissue of the dental pulp, like any other body tissues, is affected by chronic HCV infection, with an inappropriate cellularity, vasculature, and extracellular matrix proteins. The clinician should be alerted to these histologic changes and their subsequent implications.