Dental pulp

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 central region of the coronal and radicular pulp contains large nerve trunks and blood vessels.

This area is lined peripherally by a specialized odontogenic area which has four layers (from innermost to outermost):

• Pulpal core, which is in the center of the pulp chamber with many cells and an extensive vascular supply; except for its location, it is very similar to the cell-rich zone.
• Cell rich zone; which contains fibroblasts and undifferentiated mesenchymal cells.
• Cell free zone (zone of Weil) which is rich in both capillaries and nerve networks.
• Odontoblastic layer; outermost layer which contains odontoblasts and lies next to the predentin and mature dentin.

Cells found in the dental pulp include fibroblasts (the principal cell), odontoblasts, defence cells like histiocytes, macrophage, granulocytes, mast cells and plasma cells.The nerve plexus of Raschkow is located central to the cell-free zone.