Oral health plays an important role and dental issues can sometimes ruin it all. Hence dental checkups are as important as regular health checkups. Various dental treatment and procedures are available in order to treat different sort of oral issues, however we know of just a couple of them. Pulp capping is a method of preserving the tooth that has decay. Crown of teeth is the part of tooth that is visible to us. Pulp capping is also of two types direct pulp capping and indirect pulp capping. Today we will understand and discuss about procedure of indirect pulp capping and treatment.
What are teeth made of?
Teeth are made of calcium and it has three parts or layers. We spoke to Dr. Nitya Verma, Clinical Dentist at Elite Dental Clinic, Noida to understand about this dental procedure. He told that teeth are calcium structures that have three layers on them.
- Enamel
- Dentin
- Pulp
Pulp is the layer where all the nerves and blood vessels are present. If the pulp is exposed to any type of infection or problems, then it can cause terrible pain in your mouth. Exposure of pulp can also cause sensitivity in teeth and result to tooth decay.
Indirect Pulp Capping Procedure
The role of indirect pulp capping occurs when this pulp layer is exposed and compromised. Tooth exposed to infections needs to be covered in order to protect it from exposure. This procedure can be performed by a dentist to close that exposed area and prevent it from harmful problems. There are two indirect pulp capping procedures that can be opted in this dental treatment.
One-step indirect pulp capping
In this dental procedure the dentist treats the cavity that has led to exposure of pulp in the tooth. He covers the related areas that can be used to provide the protective lining on the dentin layer of the tooth.
Then the dentist covers the dentin with a seal that is made up of a special component which is almost same as calcium tooth. The tooth is then covered with the filling made up of chemical components that is used to treat the exposure of pulp.
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Two-Step Indirect Pulp Capping
This is a bit longer process than the earlier one, two step indirect pulp capping is used to remove the decayed dentin from the tooth and then covers it up with the filling. Here is the procedure of two step indirect pulp capping procedure.
When you go to the dentist for the first time with the tooth decay, he looks around the decayed tooth in detail and then proceeds thorough the treatment procedure. In the treatment of two steps, first step is to remove the dentin from the outermost parts of the tooth. Once the dentin is removed, the dentist leaves the decay that is in the upper half of the tooth. After this, the teeth are covered by seal and required components and then temporary filling is done.
In the second visit, the doctor checks if the capping was effective. Once that has been confirmed, any other cavities that are present on the tooth are removed by dental process. This helps the patient to understand the disease in a better way. Dentist may examine the indirect pulp capping to be successful by help of X-rays. Pulp capping is effective if the following results are visible-
- The pulp is still protected
- There has not been any infection on the pulp
- You do not have any kind of pain or tooth sensitivity
- The roots of the teeth are healthy and are at developing stage, especially in case of children
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Indirect Pulp Capping Materials
There are various types of materials that are used to fix the pulp capping in the teeth. Dentist uses different types of components to treat your indirect pulp.
- Resin modified glass ionomer
- Dentin bonding agent
- Calcium hydroxide
- Mineral trioxide aggregate
- Glass ionomer
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