title: Comparative Study of Pulp Vitality in Primary and Young Permanent Molars in Human Children with Pulse Oximeter and Electric Pulp Tester.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare the pulp testing methods (pulse oximetry and electric pulp test) in primary and young permanent teeth of children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included a total of 155 children aged 4 to 15 years. Twenty children formed control group I. Study group included all healthy, 85 primary 2nd molars in group II and 85 permanent 1st molars in group III. Fifty children needing endodontics treatment formed test group IV. The readings were recorded as true positive (TP), false positive (FP), true negative (TN), false negative (FN). Based on this, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated for each method. The results were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On comparing pulse oximetry with electric pulp test 'p-value' was found to be 0.487 and 1.00 for groups 1 and 2 respectively and was statistically not significant. Whereas 'p-value' for groups 3 and 4 was < 0.0001 and 0.003 respectively and was statistically highly significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study indicates that pulse oximetry can be used as a routine method for assessing the pulp vitality in primary, young permanent and mature permanent teeth. How to cite this article: Shahi P, Sood PB, Sharma A, Madan M, Shahi N, Gandhi G. Comparative Study of Pulp Vitality in Primary and Young Permanent Molars in Human Children with Pulse Oximeter and Electric Pulp Tester. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2015;8(2):94-98.
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of Pedodontics, MM College of Dental Sciences and Research, Ambala, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Prinka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shahi
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pedodontics, PDM Dental College Bahadurgarh Haryana, India.
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pedodontics, Institute of Dental Studies and Technologies, Dental College, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pardesh, India.
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pedodontics, MM College of Dental Sciences and Research, Ambala, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Madan
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pedodontics, MM College of Dental Sciences and Research, Ambala, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Nishat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shahi
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of Orthodontics, MM College of Dental Sciences and Research, Ambala, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Geetanjali
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gandhi
keywords: Electric pulp tester (EPT); Pulse oximeter; True negative (TN); True positive (TP); Vitality.