Pulpal blood flow in vital and nonvital young permanent teeth measured by transmitted-light photoplethysmography: a pilot study.
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.
Miwa
Zenzo
Z
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
Ikawa
Motohide
M
Iijima
Hideyo
H
Saito
Makoto
M
Takagi
Yuzo
Y
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