Quote Originally Posted by Inevitability View Post
It's no different from how a disintegrate spell that reduces a creature to 0 but not -10 HP doesn't kill it, but does reduce it to a mere trace of dust - which kills most creatures very shortly thereafter for lack of air/food/water/etc.
If it doesn't kill it, then the creature is still alive at 0 hp, still wearing it's gear, which was unaffected. Healing the creature should make the pile of dust a fully functional creature.