Chitosan as a potential pulp capping material for dentin-pulp regeneration: a review

Chitosan is a natural biopolymer acquired from chitin, mainly from shell of crustaceans. Its major properties include, nontoxic, biocompatible, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, stimulate wound healing and cell proliferation. Due to these properties, chitosan has gained a significant attention due to its wide range of application, including regenerative dentistry. Regenerative dentistry aimed to restore damaged tissues such as dentin and root structures and pulp-dentin complex. One of the important elements in regeneration of pulp-dentin structure is pulp capping material. Studies found that chitosan exhibit a great potential as a pulp capping material due to its ability to stimulate reparative dentin, maintain pulpal vitality, good antimicrobial activity, adherence properties to restorative material and dentin, and can resist forces during placement of restoration. Nanotechnology in tissue engineering may further enhance the properties and application of chitosan in biomedical field. This review discussed on the potential of chitosan as a pulp capping material based on the results of current research. This article also briefly discussed on the limitations of chitosan and method to overcome the challenges.