Dental pulpal nerve

Dental pulpal nerves are the sensory nerve fibers located within the dental pulp chamber, primarily consisting of myelinated Aδ-fibers and unmyelinated C-fibers that originate from the trigeminal nerve (StatPearls, 2023). Their primary biological function is nociception, where they transduce thermal, mechanical, and chemical stimuli into electrical signals that the central nervous system perceives as dental pain (Journal of Endodontics, 2017). These nerves play a central role in dental pathology, particularly in pulpitis, where inflammatory mediators like prostaglandins and bradykinin lower the activation threshold, leading to peripheral sensitization and hyperalgesia (PubMed, 2020). In clinical dentistry, pulpal nerves are the physiological site for the application of local anesthetics to induce regional anesthesia. While they are a critical clinical target for pain management, pulpal nerves represent an anatomical structure containing various molecular entities, such as voltage-gated sodium channels and TRP channels, rather than being a single target molecule or receptor (NIH, 2021).

Other names

Pulpal nervesDental pulp nervesTooth pulp nervesSensory nerves of the dental pulpIntrapulpal nerves

Local anesthetics target the pulpal nerves by diffusing across the neuronal membrane and binding to the internal pore of voltage-gated sodium channels (notably NaV1.7 and NaV1.8), which prevents sodium ion influx and the subsequent generation and propagation of action potentials (StatPearls, 2023; NIH, 2021).