Comparison of Pulp Sensibility Tests Responses in Type 2 Diabetes Patients and Healthy Individuals

Diabetes is a common disease that may have some influence on sensory nerves. The aim of this study was to evaluate dental pulp responses to 2 pulp sensibility tests (ie, cold and electric) in patients with type 2 diabetes compared with healthy individuals.

Three hundred twenty-two premolar teeth in 51 patients who had type 2 diabetes and 347 premolar teeth in 53 individuals with no medical conditions were investigated. The patients with type 2 diabetes were unified and had fasting plasma glucose <300, hemoglobin A1C <10, less than a 10-year history of diabetes mellitus, and no history of hypertension. Electric and cold pulp sensibility tests were performed for all teeth. The cold test results were recorded by the Heft-Parker visual analog scale, and the electric pulp test results were recorded based on the pulp tester's grade that evoked a response.

There was no statistically significant difference between upper and lower premolar teeth in healthy individuals compared with the patients with diabetes in response to the cold and electric pulp tests (P > .05). In the patients with diabetes, the response of their upper premolars to the cold test was significantly reduced in diabetic patients >45 years of age (β = -1.15, P = .013). However, there was no significant correlation between the cold test and age in the lower premolars of both diabetic and nondiabetic participants (P > .05). There was also no significant correlation between the need for a higher number of the electric pulp test current to evoke a response in maxillary and mandibular premolars of the patients with diabetes and nondiabetic participants with age (P > .05).

There was a significant correlation between the reduction of maxillary premolar teeth responses to the cold test in diabetes patients >45 years of age.