Caldeira CL, Barletta FB, Ilha MC, Abrão CV, Gavini G
Pulse oximetry consists of a diode light source which emits both infrared and red light both of which are received by a photodetector diode. Subjects and methods: Fifty-nine permanent teeth that had undergone lateral luxation, and which were unresponsive to a cold spray test and were free from signs of necrosis, were selected and tested with pulse oximetry (PO) at 7, 30 and 60 days after trauma. Results: Fifty-nine teeth were tested. At 7 days after trauma, 8 teeth had low rates of oxygenation, compared to 10 at 30 and 60 days. Low rates were defined as a saturation reading ≤77% SpO2. These teeth were assigned to the pulp necrosis (PN) group. The other 49 teeth were either considered to have healthy pulps (HP) (saturation ≥90%SpO2) or were assigned to a pulpitis (PP) group (saturation ≥78 to ≤89%SpO2). The 10 non-responsive teeth were followed up for 1 year and all exhibited indications for endodontic treatment. The other 49 teeth (HP or PP) began to show positive responses to the cold spray (after 3-9 months of follow up). No significant differences (P < 0.05) were detected between the three periods analyzed, but %SpO2 rates were significantly different (P < 0.01) between the groups (HP vs PP, HP vs PN and PP vs PN). Conclusions: PO can be extremely useful for the assessment of dental pulp status in traumatized teeth, particularly when these teeth do not show signs of PN and do not respond to cold tests. See full abstract.
JOA & EL: Evaluation of pulp status after tooth luxation has been a significant problem. Electrometric vitality status lacks significantly behind the actual pulp healing status. This phenomenon has led to a development of a laser Doppler instrument which has shown to be rather time consuming and technique sensitive to use. The result of this study is interesting. It would have been very interesting to compare at a larger time scale whether HP and PP groups differ in a final pulp healing.
Jens Ove Andreasen (JOA) & Eva Lauridsen (EL)