Direct pulp capping: degree of bleeding is a strong candidate as prognosis index, in-vivo study

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to document the clinical prognosis of direct pulp capping and analyzing the clinical effects of degree of bleeding on prognosis. Sixty asymptomatic permanent carious molar teeth revealing accidental pulp exposures during removal of deep dentinal caries were selected. This study was done from April 2003 till September 2004. All the teeth were capped with dentine adhesives [total-etch system]. The cavities were restored with composite resins. The patients were examined through six months. The patients with severe pain or facial swelling or teeth which exhibited peri -apical lesions were considered failure. From the total 60 Molar teeth selected, 51 cases were found successful at the last day of the study, while 09 cases failed during the course of the study. The number of successful cases found with significant statistical p-value <0.05. Cases were divided into three categories according to the degree of bleeding from exposed pulp. Table 1. The cases with less bleeding tendency [+] exhibited significant success rate of 97% than cases with profuse bleeding [++, +++] 84% and 33% respectively