Pulpal Therapy Trends in Pediatric Dentistry

The percentage of children undergoing pulpotomy and pulpectomy therapy has shown a downward trend over the years, according to a new study based on insurance data. These changes in pulpal therapy practice might indicate a teaching change in pulpal therapy guidelines, suggesting that less invasive pulpal therapy can be used rather than pulpotomies or pulpectomies.

The study has been published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.

About Pulpectomy

Pulpectomy involves removal of all the pulp from the crown and roots of a tooth. It is usually performed in children to save a severely infected primary tooth. In permanent teeth, pulpectomy is the first part of the root canal procedure.

Study Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify differences in usage trends for two specific pulpal therapy treatments in pediatric patients during an 11-year period from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2020.

Insurance data claims for children aged 2 through 12 years undergoing a pulpotomy or a pulpectomy performed by a general dentist (GD) or pediatric dentist (PD) from 2010 through 2020 were extracted from a dental data warehouse. The state where the provider was located was included in the extracted claim.

Results

• Rates of undergoing a pulpotomy or pulpectomy declined from 2010 through 2020.
• PDs were more likely to perform pulpotomies than GDs but PDs were less likely to perform pulpectomies than GDs.
• Younger patient age was a significant predictor for undergoing pulpotomy treatment for both GDs and PDs.
• With increasing patient age, PDs had increased odds of performing a pulpectomy and GDs had decreased odds of performing a pulpectomy.
• When examining effects according to American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry national membership districts, the trends remained consistent with those above.
• The percentage of children undergoing pulpotomy and pulpectomy therapy declined from 2010 through 2020 among both general dentist and pediatric dentist.

Reference

Lauren M. White, Juan F. Yepes, Allison C. Scully, Gerardo Maupomé, Michael Milano, Jeffrey A. Dean, et al. Insurance claim data trends in pulpal therapy for pediatric patients. The Journal of the American Dental Association.