Abstract
Dental caries is the most common non-communicable disease in children with significant aesthetic, functional, and quality of life deterioration. Depending on the depth, two approaches may be considered in primary dentition: vital pulp therapy (VPT) or non-vital therapy (NPT). This umbrella review aimed to critically assess the available systematic reviews (SRs) on VPT and NPT. An electronic database search was conducted (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane, Web of Science, and LILACS) until June 2021. The Risk of Bias (RoB) of SRs was analyzed using the Measurement Tool to Assess SRs criteria 2 (AMSTAR2). From 272 entries, 33 SRs were included. Regarding the methodological quality, three studies were critically low, nine low, seventeen moderate, and six were rated as high quality. The quality of evidence produced by the available SRs was moderate. Future high standard SRs and well-designed clinical trials are warranted to better elucidate the clinical protocols and outcomes of VPT and NPT.
Highlights
Received: 11 November 2021Dental caries is the most common non-communicable disease in children with significant aesthetic, functional and quality of life deterioration [1]
Depending on the depth of caries, two approaches may be considered in the primary dentition: vital pulp therapy (VPT) or non-vital therapy (NPT) [1,3]
Electronic searches retrieved a total of 272 titles through the database search
Summary
Dental caries is the most common non-communicable disease in children with significant aesthetic, functional and quality of life deterioration [1]. Caries lesions can jeopardize the teeth vitality, as its progression cause infection, pain, and even early tooth loss [1,2]. Depending on the depth of caries (which may have pulp involvement), two approaches may be considered in the primary dentition: vital pulp therapy (VPT) or non-vital therapy (NPT) [1,3]. When the pulp is still recuperable, VPT may be an option and three options are available: indirect pulp treatment (IPT), direct pulp cap (DPC), and pulpotomy [1,2,3,4,5]. When the caries lesion progresses to the point where pulp necrotizes, an NPT is performed, such as pulpectomy [3]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
