Introduction:
The dental pulp is a loose connective tissue that is found in the center of the tooth. Its primary function is the formation and support of the dentine that surrounds it (Solómon, 2015). The pulp has the unique reparative capacity where it can cause the differentiation of new odontoblasts and in turn lay down dentine. The pulp can be damaged and this leads to the need for treatment. It can be damaged due to trauma either directly or from restorative procedures, an open restoration margin or the development of caries, leading to the pulp becoming inflamed due to the ingress of bacteria from the surrounding oral cavity, if left untreated it can cause pulpal death and lead to apical periodontitis (Mjór, 2002). Intervention in inflamed …show more content…
Reliable indicators for the success of pulpotomies is the absence of clinical symptoms and periapical alterations, with the formation of a dentin bridge and an adequate final restoration (Kunert, 2015). The Journal of Dentistry (Kunert, 2015) provides a study that gives clinical and radiographic findings on the behaviour of 273 pulpotomies with a long term follow up ranging from 1-29 years. The pulpotomies were preformed by a single operator on patients between the age of 8 to 79 years at the time of procedure. Pure CaOH powder was used as the pulp capping material in all cases. Periapical and bitewing radiographs were taken before the undertaking of any treatment. The percentage of success rates were as follows: 1 year: 82%, 2 years: 83%, 3 years: 81%, 4 years: 76%, 5 years 75% and 10 years 63%. There was said to be no significant statistical evidence between the success of any systemic risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, cardiopathy or any systemic diseases. Age, gender and appointment number also added no significant risk. A strong indication of success in this study was the formation of a dentin bridge following the pulpotomy, without which would cause less protection of the remaining pulp and increase the failure rate. There were also some discrepancies with the final restorations as they provide another area for variation in success rates, it was found that the composite resin restorations produced the highest failure rates followed by amalgam and the best form of final restoration was a prosthetic crown. The report concludes saying that it does not consider age a contraindication of the pulpotomy and also that radiographs can provide an indicator of success due due to the detection of the dentin bridge which seems to be a protective factor. The results of the study help to establish the pulpotomy as a viable treatment option
The dental pulp is a loose connective tissue that is found in the center of the tooth. Its primary function is the formation and support of the dentine that surrounds it (Solómon, 2015). The pulp has the unique reparative capacity where it can cause the differentiation of new odontoblasts and in turn lay down dentine. The pulp can be damaged and this leads to the need for treatment. It can be damaged due to trauma either directly or from restorative procedures, an open restoration margin or the development of caries, leading to the pulp becoming inflamed due to the ingress of bacteria from the surrounding oral cavity, if left untreated it can cause pulpal death and lead to apical periodontitis (Mjór, 2002). Intervention in inflamed …show more content…
Reliable indicators for the success of pulpotomies is the absence of clinical symptoms and periapical alterations, with the formation of a dentin bridge and an adequate final restoration (Kunert, 2015). The Journal of Dentistry (Kunert, 2015) provides a study that gives clinical and radiographic findings on the behaviour of 273 pulpotomies with a long term follow up ranging from 1-29 years. The pulpotomies were preformed by a single operator on patients between the age of 8 to 79 years at the time of procedure. Pure CaOH powder was used as the pulp capping material in all cases. Periapical and bitewing radiographs were taken before the undertaking of any treatment. The percentage of success rates were as follows: 1 year: 82%, 2 years: 83%, 3 years: 81%, 4 years: 76%, 5 years 75% and 10 years 63%. There was said to be no significant statistical evidence between the success of any systemic risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, cardiopathy or any systemic diseases. Age, gender and appointment number also added no significant risk. A strong indication of success in this study was the formation of a dentin bridge following the pulpotomy, without which would cause less protection of the remaining pulp and increase the failure rate. There were also some discrepancies with the final restorations as they provide another area for variation in success rates, it was found that the composite resin restorations produced the highest failure rates followed by amalgam and the best form of final restoration was a prosthetic crown. The report concludes saying that it does not consider age a contraindication of the pulpotomy and also that radiographs can provide an indicator of success due due to the detection of the dentin bridge which seems to be a protective factor. The results of the study help to establish the pulpotomy as a viable treatment option