Objectively Diagnosing Pulpitis: Opportunities and Methodological Challenges in the Development of Point-of-Care Assays

Description

Darren Walsh, Ross Quigley, Anthonia Ekperuoh, and Henry Duncan argue that dentistry needs an objective test for pulpitis, the painful inflammation of a tooth's inner pulp. Today's chairside checks are subjective: they prod the nerve and ask the patient, which cannot grade how inflamed the tissue is. That grading matters more now, since guidelines favor saving the living pulp over root canal treatment when the damage allows.

The review surveys molecules that shift as pulpitis worsens, including signaling proteins, enzymes, and growth factors that can be sampled during routine care. Several candidates look strong enough to anchor a chairside kit, yet no commercial test exists. The authors call on researchers, industry, and dentists to build one together. They frame the gap as urgent, since treatment choices now hinge on a diagnosis that guesswork still supplies.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12785475