Profile of primary teeth with pulpal involvement secondary to caries

The objective of this retrospective study was to determine the profile of primary teeth with pulpal involvement secondary to caries that required pulp therapy or extractions. Three hundred and ninety teeth were selected in 215 children (twelve years old and under) at an inner-city clinic in the United States over an eighteen-month period. An analysis of frequency distribution was done. Molar teeth were most affected by this stage of caries with morbidity increasing with age. In the under-six-year-olds, however, maxillary incisors were most affected. Extraction was the predominant treatment selected for the incisors with this degree of caries. Pulp therapy was the treatment of choice for molar teeth in the under-six-year-olds, but this trend was reversed with the number of extractions increasing in the six-to-twelve-year-old children.