Success of an alternative for interim management of irreversible pulpitis.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Glass Ionomer Cements, published as a randomized controlled trial.

The authors conducted a study to investigate an alternative interim therapy.

Why It Was Studied

Extraction and endodontic therapy are treatment options for irreversible pulpitis.

Extraction often is chosen for financial reasons.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults.

The authors recruited patients (N = 73) with irreversible pulpitis and whose teeth were restorable but who opted for extraction owing to financial reasons.

After undergoing pulpotomy, the teeth were restored by random assignment with one of two intermediate restorative materials: Caulk IRM (Dentsply Caulk, Milford, Del.) (Group I, n = 38) or an IRM base with glass ionomer core (Fuji IX GP, GC America, Alsip, Ill.) (Group II, n = 35).

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

Because people in this Glass Ionomer Cements study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

The authors monitored the teeth over six and 12 months for pain, integrity of restoration and radiographic periapical status by densitometric analysis.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Absorptiometry, Photon, Dental Leakage, Dental Pulp Capping, Dental Restoration, Temporary, Glass Ionomer Cements, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted and Methylmethacrylates.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Glass Ionomer Cements.

Results are reported in around 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2004 (Journal of the American Dental Association (1939)), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.