Comparing Pulse Oximetry and Laser Doppler Flowmetry as a Diagnostic Tool for Pulpal Vitality
Hojat Lotfi* and Valentina Vassilenko
Published: August 12, 2022
Abstract
The impact of oral health on the health of all people in the world and the improvement of living standards in recent years has led to increased attention to the factors affecting oral health. One of the important factors in oral health is early monitoring of dental and gingival microcirculation to be used in the diagnosis of many oral diseases in the early stages. Due to the location of the teeth in the oral cavity covered by the gums, direct monitoring of dental and gingival health is a complex task that requires specialized tools to enable routine clinical use in dentistry in a simple, painless, cost-effective and non-invasive. Pulp vitality normally represents the vascular supply of tooth innervated by sensory fibers. Most of pulp sensitivity tests such cold, thermal and electric tests are dependent on the stimulation of nerve fibers with false positive and false negative response in traumatized and necrotic teeth or patients under the influence of drugs or alcohol can lead to unnecessary endodontic procedures. Current therapeutic decisions in dentistry are made using clinical examination, pulp sensitivity tests, and radiography which are practical but not enough to provide a valuable diagnosis information of vascular supply in dental pulp, especially in procedure like root canal. The important of finding a tool to assist in the pulp diagnosis leading to an appropriate treatment planning, this paper is providing a comprehensive review of current pulp testing methods by pulse oximetry and laser Doppler flowmetry.
Keywords: pulse oximeter; laser Doppler flowmetry; gingival; microcirculation; non-invasive