title: Pulpal blood flow in vital and nonvital young permanent teeth measured by transmitted-light photoplethysmography: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to record transmitted-light photoplethysmography (TLP) from young permanent teeth and examine its applicability to pulp vitality assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six healthy and 7 nonvital upper maxillary incisors in 17 children (ages 7 years, 3 months to 14 years, 8 months) were examined. Recordings of TLP were made with and without opaque black rubber dam application in a darkened room. Finger photoplethysmography (FPP) of the participants was simultaneously recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Pulse waves synchronous with FPP were recorded from all healthy teeth, whereas no pulse signals were recognized in nonvital teeth. (2) The signal amplitude in the TLP was not significantly affected by the opaque dam application. (3) In the healthy teeth, there was a significantly negative correlation between the TLP pulse amplitude and the age of the subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TLP can detect pulpal blood flow in young permanent teeth. This technique is considered to be applicable in the assessment of pulp vitality.
authors.affiliation: Section of Developmental Oral Health Science, Department of Orofacial Development and Function, Division of Oral Health Sciences, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan. miwa.dohs@tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: Zenzo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Miwa
authors.forename: Motohide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikawa
authors.forename: Hideyo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iijima
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takagi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000098:blood supply*; D003790:Dental Pulp Necrosis / Q000473:pathology; D003791:Dental Pulp Test; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor / Q000098:blood supply*; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D017156:Photoplethysmography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D016733:Rubber Dams; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019553:Tooth, Nonvital / Q000473:pathology