Abstract
To assess the treatment outcomes of direct pulp capping with calcium hydroxide, 248 teeth were examined 0.4–16.6 years (mean, 6.1 ± 4.4) after pulp capping. Only teeth diagnosed to be clinical healthy or with spontaneous pain were capped. The treatment outcome was assessed by interviewing for signs or symptoms responsiveness and sensibility testing with CO2. The overall survival rate was 76.3% after 13.3 years. Of the teeth, 80.2% were found to have a favourable treatment outcome. The pulps of 60-year-old patients showed a significant lower favourable treatment outcome when compared to patients younger than 40 years (p < 0.05). The treatment outcome was significantly less favourable in teeth restored with glass ionomer cement compared to all other teeth (p < 0.01). The likelihood to show an unfavourable treatment outcome after direct pulp capping was significantly higher for teeth with spontaneous pain than for teeth with clinically healthy pulps (p < 0.001). In addition, the likelihood for a tooth to become non-vital after direct pulp capping was significantly higher within the first 5 years after treatment than after more than 5 years (p < 0.001) after treatment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Accorinte MLR, Loguerico AD, Reis A, Costa CAS (2008) Response of human pulps capped with different self-etch adhesive systems. Clin Oral Investig 12:119–127
Büyükgüral B, Cehreli ZC (2008) Effect of different adhesive protocols vs calcium hydroxide on primary tooth pulp with different remaining dentin thicknesses: 24 months results. Clin Oral Investig 12:91–96
Weiger R (2001) Vitalerhaltende Therapie. In: Heidemann D (ed) Endodontie. Urban & Fischer, München, pp 58–78
Schroeder HE (1997) Pathobiologie oraler Strukturen. Zähne, Pulpa, Parodont, 3rd edn. Karger, Basel, p 136
Stanley HR (1989) Pulp capping: conserving the dental pulp—can it be done? Is it worth it? Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 68:628–639
Hørsted-Bindslev P, Bergenholtz G (2003) Vital pulp therapies. In: Bergenholtz G, Hørsted-Bindslev P, Erik-Reit C (eds) Textbook of endodontology. Blackwell Munksgaard, Oxford, pp 66–91
Hermann B (1928) Ein weiterer Beitrag zur Frage der Pulpenbehandlung. Zahnärztl Rundsch 37:1327–1376
Hermann B (1930) Dentinobliteration der Wurzelkanäle nach Behandlung mit Calcium. Zahnärztl Rundsch 39:888–899
Rebel H-H (1922) Über die Ausheilung der freigelegten Pulpa. Dtsch Zahnheilkd 55:3–83
Dammaschke T (2008) The history of direct pulp capping. J Hist Dent 56:9–23
Barthel CR, Rosenkranz B, Leuenberg A, Roulet J-F (2000) Pulp capping of carious exposures: treatment outcome after 5 and 10 years: a retrospective study. J Endod 26:525–528
Christensen GJ (1998) Pulp capping 1998. J Am Dent Assoc 129:1297–1299
Matsuo T, Nakanishi T, Shimizu H, Ebisu S (1996) A clinical study of direct pulp capping applied to caries-exposed pulps. J Endod 22:551–556
Langeland K (1981) Management of the inflamed pulp associated with deep carious lesion. J Endod 7:169–181
Stanley HR (1998) Criteria for standardizing and increasing credibility of direct pulp capping studies. Am J Dent 11(Spec Iss):S17–S34
Auschill TM, Arweiler NB, Hellwig E, Zamani-Alaei A, Sculean A (2003) Success rate of direct pulp-capping with calcium hydroxide. Schweiz Monatsschr Zahnmed 113:946–952
Ward J (2002) Vital pulp therapy in cariously exposed permanent teeth and its limitations. Aust Endod J 28:29–37
Tronstad L, Mjör IA (1972) Capping of the inflamed pulp. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 34:477–486
Reuver J (1992) 592 pulp cappings in a dental office—a clinical study (1966–1990). Dtsch Zahnärztl Z 47:29–32
Baume LJ, Holz J (1981) Long term clinical assessment of direct pulp capping. Int Dent J 31:251–260
Shankle RJ, Brauer JS (1962) Pulp capping. Clinical evidence of a dentine bridge. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 15:1121–1127
Ahrens G, Reuver J (1973) Follow-up studies of direct pulp capping in the daily dental practice. Dtsch Zahnärztl Z 28:862–865
Petersson K, Söderström C, Kiani-Anaraki M, Levy G (1999) Evaluation of the ability of thermal and electrical tests to register pulp vitality. Endod Dent Traumatol 15:127–131
Schröder A (1981) Endodontie: Ein Leitfaden für Studium und Praxis, 2nd edn. Quintessenz, Berlin, pp 17–20, 47–68
Fesseler A (1988) Die Untersuchung. In: Ketterl W (ed) Grundlagen der Zahn-, Mund- und Kieferheilkunde, 2nd edn. Urban & Schwarzenberg, München, pp 71–109
Seltzer S, Bender IB, Ziontz M (1963) The dynamics of pulpal inflammation: correlation between diagnostic data and actual histologic findings in the pulp. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 16:846–871
Hyman J, Cohen M (1984) The predictive value of endodontic diagnostic tests. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 58:343–346
Dummer PMH, Hicks R, Huws D (1980) Clinical signs and symptoms in the pulp disease. Int Endod J 13:27–35
Pereira JC, Segala AD, Costa CAS (2000) Human pulpal response to direct pulp capping with an adhesive system. Am J Dent 13:139–147
Schreger E, Nossek H, Kciuk K, Jungnickel U (1988) Clinical and roentgenologic examinations after direct capping. Stomatol DDR 38:754–757
Hørsted P, Søndergaard B, Thylstup A, El-Attar K, Fejerskov O (1985) A retrospective study of the direct pulp capping with Ca(OH)2 compounds. Endod Dent Traumatol 1:29–34
Patterson SS, van Huysen G (1954) The treatment of pulp exposures. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 7:194–206
Berk H (1963) Pulp capping: re-evaluation of criteria based on clinical and histological findings. Int Dent J 13:577–581
Künzel W, Runkel F (1963) Problems of direct pulp capping. Part I. Clinical evaluation of direct pulp capping by means of, respectively, Calxyl, Reogan, and Regeneran. Dtsch Stomatol 13:225–231
Gülzow HJ, Müller H (1966) Clinical and roentgenological follow-up studies of direct cappings and vital amputations. Dtsch Zahnärztl Z 21:176–179
Haskell EW, Stanley HR, Chellemi J, Stringfellow H (1978) Direct pulp capping treatment: a long-term follow up. J Am Dent Assoc 97:607–612
Heyduck G, Wegner H (1978) Clinical, radiological and histological results after vital treatment of exposed pulp. Stomatol DDR 28:614–619
Honegger D, Holz J, Baume L-J (1979) Long-term clinical supervision of direct pulp capping (performed by the students of the School of Dentistry, Geneva). Schweiz Monatsschr Zahnheilkd 89:1020–1041
Attin T, Hellwig E, Kaletsch H (1993) Erfolgsaussichten der direkten Pulpaüberkappung bei Zähnen mit Caries profunda. Quintessenz 44:1613–1622
Al-Hiyasat AS, Barrieshi-Nusair KM, Al-Omari MA (2006) The radiographic outcome of direct pulp-capping procedures performed by dental students. A retrospective study. J Am Dent Assoc 137:1699–1705
Ahlström T, Krasse B (1956) Direkt pulpaöverkappning på permanenta tänder. En klinisk röntgenologisk efterundersökning. Odontol Revy 7:397–403
Harndt R, Schachtsiek G (1962) Klinische Kontrolle direkter Überkappungen der gesunden Pulpa. Dtsch Zahnärztebl 16:734–739
Beetke E, Wenzel B, Lau B, Bienengräber V (1990) Direct capping of the artificial exposed pulp in teeth with deep caries. Stomatol DDR 40:246–249
Weiss MB, Massler M, Spence JM (1963) Operative effects on adult dental pulp. Dent Prog 4:6–15
Kakehashi S, Stanley HR, Fitzgerald RJ (1965) The effects of surgical exposure of dental pulps in germ-free and conventional laboratory rats. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 20:340–349
Cox CF, Bergenholtz G, Heys DR, Syed SA, Fitzgerald M, Heys RJ (1985) Pulp capping of dental pulp mechanically exposed to oral microflora: a 1–2 year observation of wound healing in the monkey. J Oral Pathol 14:156–168
Cox CF, Keall CL, Keall HJ, Ostro E, Bergenholtz G (1987) Biocompatibility of surface-sealed dentin materials against exposed pulps. J Prosthet Dent 57:1–9
Østravik D, Pitt Ford TR (1998) Essential endodontology: prevention and treatment of apical periodontitis. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 192–210
Shovelton DS, Friend LA, Kirk EEJ, Rowe AHR (1971) The efficacy of pulp capping materials. A comparative trial. Brit Dent J 130:385–391
Beerendonk KH (1939) Klinische und röntgenologische Untersuchungen mit Calxyl. Zahnärztl Rundsch 48:186–191
Pajarola WF (1940) Die Überkappung gesunder und infizierter Pulpen mit Calxyl. Schweiz Monatsschr Zahnheilkd 50:511–540
Fenner H (1944) Spätresultate der Einwirkung des Calxyls bei der direkten Pulpaüberkappung und bei der Vitalamputation der Pulpa. Schweiz Mschr Zahnheilk 54:651–680
Tananbaum NI (1951) Pulp capping with zinc oxide-eugenol and calcium hydroxide: clinical studies on 135 patients. J Dent Child 18:16–20
Castagnola L (1953) Die Lebenderhaltung der Pulpa in der konservierenden Zahnheilkunde. Hanser, München
Mumaw ED, Cooper P (1957) Simplified method of pulp capping adult teeth with calcium hydroxide. US Armed Forces Med J 8:979–984
Pritz W (1957) Erfahrungen mit Calxyl zur Pulpenüberkappung. ZWR 58:120–124
Nyborg H (1958) Capping of the pulp. The processes involved and their outcome. A report of the follow-ups of a clinical series. Odontol Tidskr 66:296–386
Sapone J (1962) Pulp-capping of vital teeth. Dent Prog 3:47–52
Armstrong WP, Hoffman S (1962) Pulp-cap study. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 15:1505–1509
Jones MD, Gibb GH (1969) Direct pulp capping with Dycal. J Can Dent Assoc 35:584–587
Acknowledgement
Our special thanks go to Dr. rer. nat. G. Burkhardtsmaier, Institute for Medical Informatics and Biomathematics of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University, Münster, Germany for his help with the statistical evaluation. We are grateful to Dr. Darius Sagheri, Department of Orthodontics, University of Cologne, Germany for kindly reviewing the manuscript.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dammaschke, T., Leidinger, J. & Schäfer, E. Long-term evaluation of direct pulp capping—treatment outcomes over an average period of 6.1 years. Clin Oral Invest 14, 559–567 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-009-0326-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-009-0326-9