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 req uired pulp therapy or extractions. Three hundred and ninety teeth were selected in 215 children (twelve years old and under) at an inner-cit y clinic in the United States over an eighteen-month period. An analys is of frequency distribution was done. Molar teeth were most affected by this stage of caries with morbidity increasing with age. Ln the und er-six-year-olds, however, maxillary incisors were most affected. Extr action was the predominant treatment selected for the incisors with th is degree of caries. Pulp therapy was the treatment of choice for mola r teeth in the under-six-year-olds, but this trend was reversed with t he number of extractions increasing in the six-to-twelve-year-old chil dren.