Chen Eugene, Abbott Paul V
School of Dentistry, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
Int J Dent. 2009;2009:365785. doi: 10.1155/2009/365785. Epub 2009 Nov 12.
Dental pulp testing is a useful and essential diagnostic aid in endodontics. Pulp sensibility tests include thermal and electric tests, which extrapolate pulp health from sensory response. Whilst pulp sensibility tests are the most commonly used in clinical practice, they are not without limitations and shortcomings. Pulp vitality tests attempt to examine the presence of pulp blood flow, as this is viewed as a better measure of true health than sensibility. Laser Doppler flowmetry and pulse oximetry are examples of vitality tests. Whilst the prospect is promising, there are still many practical issues that need to be addressed before vitality tests can replace sensibility tests as the standard clinical pulp diagnostic test. With all pulp tests, the results need to be carefully interpreted and closely scrutinised as false results can lead to misdiagnosis which can then lead to incorrect, inappropriate, or unnecessary treatment.
牙髓测试是牙髓病学中一种有用且必不可少的诊断辅助手段。牙髓敏感性测试包括热测试和电测试，这些测试通过感觉反应推断牙髓健康状况。虽然牙髓敏感性测试是临床实践中最常用的方法，但它们并非没有局限性和缺点。牙髓活力测试试图检测牙髓血流的存在，因为与敏感性相比，这被视为衡量真正健康状况的更好指标。激光多普勒血流仪和脉搏血氧饱和度测定仪就是活力测试的例子。尽管前景乐观，但在活力测试能够取代敏感性测试成为标准的临床牙髓诊断测试之前，仍有许多实际问题需要解决。对于所有牙髓测试，结果都需要仔细解读并严格审查，因为错误的结果可能导致误诊，进而导致不正确、不适当或不必要的治疗。
