A possible role of LIM mineralization protein 1 in tertiary dentinogenesis of dental caries treatment.

Dental caries is a slowly progressive infectious disease with high risks. In response to dental caries stimuli, the tertiary dentin might be formed, protecting the dental pulp. Tertiary dentinogenesis contributes greatly to the treatment of carious lesions as well as the preservation and restoration of entire tooth function. A number of studies have found that application of exogenous growth factors such as transforming growth factors and bone morphogenetic proteins on unexposed pulps are able to signal tertiary dentinogenesis. Since precise mechanism of tertiary dentinogenesis is still not clear, more potential signaling factors might contribute to this process. Dentinogenesis shares many similarities with osteogenesis. The factors involved in osteogenesis and bone repair such as bone morphogenetic proteins 2, 7 and core binding factor alpha1 play important roles in dentinogenesis. LIM mineralization protein 1 is a critical positive regulator of osteoblast differentiation, bone formation and repair. It is logical to postulate that LIM mineralization protein 1 might be involved in odontoblast differentiation and dentin formation both in normal and in pathological conditions. Application of LIM mineralization protein 1 might be a promising approach for inducing tertiary dentinogenesis in dental caries treatment.