Incidence and Distribution of Pulp Stones Found in Radiographic Dental Examination of Adult Turkish Dental Patients

BACKGROUND Pulp stones (PS) are discrete calcified masses found in the dental pulp, in the pulp tissue or become attached to or embedded into the dentine. The formation of pulp stones is still something of an enigma, leading to existence of some epidemiological gaps. AIM To determine the prevalence and distribution of pulp stones in posterior tooth group by using panoramic radiograph. MATERIALS AND METHODS Panoramic radiographs from 6912 patients attending Kirikkale University Dental Faculty Hospital, Kirikkale, Turkey during the period from July 2009 to August 2011 were reviewed for the presence of pulp stones. The overall incidence of pulp stones in the patients and their correlations between female and male patients and between the right-side and left-side occurrences were analyzed by computer program, SPSS 15. (SPSS Inc. Chicago, USA) with using the χ(2) test. Differences were considered as significant when P < 0.05. RESULTS Pulp stones were detected in 879 out of 6912 patients (person prevalence 12.7%). Pulp stones were detected in 2009 teeth out of a total of 96240 teeth to give a tooth prevalence of 2.1%. Their occurrence was higher in the maxilla than in the mandible for each tooth type. Pulp stones were found to involve the right side more (1224/2009) (61%) than the left side (785/2009)(39%) and they were significantly more common in females than males (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Attention should be paid to the presence of pulp stones and the treatment problems associated with them.