The purpose of this study was to evaluate the responses of succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities of human deciduous teeth pulpal fibroblasts (HDPF) to dental restorative materials. Tested materials included Z100 (3M), Dyract (Dentsply), FujiII (GC), and FujiIILC (GC). IRM (Dentsply) and culture medium (MD) alone were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. Specimens 6 mm (diameter) x 3 mm were prepared in accordance with manufacturers' instructions. For light-cured materials, specimens were light cured for 40 s on both sides under a celluloid strip. For chemical-cured materials, specimens were allowed to set at room temperature for 15 min. The specimens were immersed in 1 mL of culture medium without serum for 24 h at room temperature. The extracts were filtered through 0.22-mm filters. HDPF (10,000 cells/well) was incubated with 100 microL of extract and 20 % FBS in a 96-well plate for 24 h in a 37 degrees, 5 % CO(2) incubator. Six wells per material were prepared. Optical density (OD) of SDH and ALP of HDPF were measured by a spectrophotometer. The means were analyzed by ANOVA and then a Duncan Test. The ranking of OD of SDH was IRM < FujiIILC < FujiII = Z100 < Dyract < MD (p < 0.05). The ranking of OD of ALP was IRM < Z100 = Dyract < FujiII < FujiIILC < MD (p < 0.05). The result showed that all of the tested restorative materials were cytotoxic to human deciduous pulpal fibroblasts. The cytotoxicity of resin-modified glass ionomer cements (FujiIILC) was stronger than that of traditional glass ionomer cements (FujiII) and composite resin (Z100), and that of compomer (Dyract) was the weakest. On the contrary, ALP activities of resin-modified glass ionomer cements (FujiIILC) and composite resin (Z100) were higher than those of traditional glass ionomer cements (FujiII), while those of compomer (Dyract) were the lowest. It is concluded that, in this study, FujiIILC was the most cytotoxic material and the least inhibitive of ALP activities, Dyract was the weakest cytotoxic material and had the highest inhibition of ALP activities. The rankings of the MTT assay and the ALP assay were not consistent.