Histopathology of the pulp in primary incisors with deep dentinal caries

The purpose of this study was to assess the histological appearance of the pulp of human primary incisors extracted because of deep, unrestorable caries, and to determine how clinical pulp exposures affected the histological status of the pulp compared to nonexposures. Caries was removed carefully from all teeth after fixation; 24 incisors had pulp exposures, and 29 teeth had no pulp exposures. Histological examination showed normal pulps in 69% of the teeth without pulp exposures, compared to 33% of teeth with exposed pulps (P < 0.05). Microabscesses were observed in 33% of cases with pulp exposures, compared to 10% of cases without pulp exposures. In this study, 46 of 53 pulps remained vital in spite of the multiple and deep carious lesions. Teeth without pulp exposures were diagnosed in the treatable category in 20 of 26 cases.