(PR076) Characterizing Vital Pulp Therapy in Pediatric Patients

Objectives: To characterize the cohort of pediatric patients and features of teeth receiving vital pulp therapy (VPT).

Methods: The study included patients aged 6-18 years who received VPT (n=156). Patient demographics, tooth number, pre-operative diagnoses, and treatment types were recorded. Differences in distributions of categorical variables were analyzed using the chi-squared test, while differences in continuous variables were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: In this cohort, females comprised 60.3% (n=94) and males 39.7% (n=62). Average patient age was 10.3 years (SD=2.8), while age range was 6.3 -18.2 years. Tooth #30 was most frequently treated, accounting for 26.3% (n=41) of all VPT treatments. Mandibular first molars comprised 48.1% (n=72), while maxillary first molars made up 26.9% (n=42). Together, 4 teeth (30, 19, 14, 3) accounted for the majority of VPT cases, 75% (n=117), while all molars comprised 85.9% (n=134). Patients diagnosed with normal pulp had a median age of 11.0 years; those with reversible or irreversible pulpitis had median ages of 9.0 years (p=0.0006). The most common diagnosis in anterior teeth was normal pulp (60%, n=9), in pre-molars, reversible pulpitis (57.1%, n=4), and in molars, irreversible pulpitis (40%, n=53), (p=0.008). The most common periapical diagnosis was normal apical tissues (84.6%, n=132). The most frequent VPT treatments were deep pulpotomy (48.1%, n=75) and direct pulp capping (33.3%, n=32).

Conclusion: VPT in pediatric patients is most commonly performed on molar teeth, specifically mandibular first molars. The most common VPT procedures in this pediatric cohort were deep pulpotomy and direct pulp capping.