Correlation between Clinical Signs and Symptoms, Radiographic Findings and Operative Diagnosis of Pulpal Status in Primary Molars in 4-8-year-Old Children Attending the Department of Pediatric Dentistry

Abstract

Purpose: An accurate diagnosis of pulp status in children may be complicated due to their inability to describe the symptoms. It is extremely important to know how well the different diagnostic data correlate with each other; therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the correlation between history-based, clinical, radiographic, and operative diagnoses. Methods: Four- to eight-year-old children attending the department for routine dental examination were included in this study. A total of 180 primary molars were evaluated clinically and radiographically, and their dental history was recorded. The pulpal diagnosis based on the dental history, clinical findings, and radiography was determined. During pulp therapy, the operative diagnosis was also determined. Finally the correlation between history-based, clinical, radiographic, and operative diagnoses by Spearman’s correlation test. Results: The strongest correlation was between the operative diagnosis and the radiographic diagnosis(r=0.831, P<0.001), while the weakest correlation was between the operative diagnosis and the clinical diagnosis(r=0.556, P<0.001).