Management of irreversible pulpitis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Pulpotomy versus orthograde root canal treatment for the management of irreversible pulpitis (PORT)
IRAS ID
237565
Contact name
Francesco Mannocci
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
This multi centre trial aims to investigate the tooth pulp (nerve) response and short-term postoperative pain following pulpotomy (a new treatment approach), in teeth with symptoms of irreversible pulpitis (a painful condition that is triggered by irreversible damage to the nerve of the tooth), as compared to that of root canal treatment (standard of care).
Irreversible pulpitis is a dental condition that requires emergency treatment. Pulpotomy represents a more conservative and potentially less painful approach to the treatment of irreversible pulpitis. It consists of the partial removal of only the affected part of the nerve of the tooth, while maintaining the healthy portion of the nerve inside of the root canals.
The integrity of the restoration of the tooth will be assessed at follow up.
A further aim of the study is to compare the effectiveness of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT - experimental) scans (Morita) with that of conventional radiographs (standard of care) in detecting the presence of periapical lesions and monitoring and root changes over a year after pulpotomy and restoration placement. CBCT has shown to be more reliable in detecting small periapical lesions (that are correlated to damage to the nerve) when compared to the standard of care, and may detect subtle degenerative changes within pulpotomised teeth, such as resorption or sclerosis, which may not be detected on plain films. The detection of early changes on CBCT might establish this as a new gold standard for these situations, allowing an early diagnosis of pulp necrosis (when the nerve dies) which might improve the outcome of further treatment if necessary. This research is a natural consequence of the successful introduction of new materials and techniques that have proved to have excellent biocompatibility and that potentially allow for the pulpotomy procedure to simplify the treatment of irreversible pulpitis.REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1038
Date of REC Opinion
2 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion