The diagnosis, classification and treatment of acute pulpal pain by UK general dental practitioners: results of a survey.

There are several problems related to the diagnosis and treatment of the acute painful tooth associated with a deep carious lesion, including the fact that there is little or no correlation between the clinical signs and symptoms and also that the diagnostic tools are not reliable. It is important to understand the problems experienced by dental practitioners and how they routinely make diagnosis and formulate treatment plans. The way general dental practitioners diagnosed, categorised and treated teeth with acute pain was ascertained by a questionnaire completed by practitioners attending postgraduate courses. The results indicate that dental radiographs and the dental history were most frequently used and that few practitioners had, and fewer used electric pulp testers. The concept of using simple clinical categories which correspond to treatment categories does not seem to be in widespread use, though the generally accepted role of calcium hydroxide as an indirect and direct capping material is widespread. The use of corticosteroid materials is not as widespread in younger practitioners as in their older colleagues and the use of emergency pulpotomy is infrequent.