[Narrowing of the dental pulp cavity in patients undergoing long-term administration of steroids]

The purpose of this study was to examine narrowing of the dental pulp cavity in patients undergoing long-term administration of steroids, by means of intraoral radiographs. The subjects were 20 patients under long-term steroid treatment (the steroid group), and 15 patients who were not receiving steroids (the non-steroid group), who visited the Clinic for Persons with Disabilities, University Hospital, Faculty of Dentistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, between April 1994 and March 2000. The dental pulp cavity was divided into the coronal area and the root area. Narrowing of each area was classified into three stages by means of intraoral radiographs (0, none; 1, moderate; 2, severe). Maxillary and mandibular dentition was divided, for purposes of analysis, into anterior, premolar, and molar areas, respectively. The narrowing of each part was statistically compared between the steroid group and the non-steroid group, using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Mean age +/- SD of the steroid group and the non-steroid group was 50.5 +/- 17.3 and 51.8 +/- 14.1, respectively. There was no significant difference in mean age between the steroid group and the non-steroid group (t-test). Narrowing of the dental pulp cavity in the steroid group was significantly greater than in the non-steroid group, except in the root area of the molar part. Since there was no significant difference in mean age between the steroid group and the non-steroid group, the greater narrowing in the steroid group was concluded to be attributable to the long-term administration of steroids.