Can acute pulpitis heal itself?

The health of our teeth has a relatively direct impact on our physical health. Now many people have some problems with their teeth. Pulpitis is one of the more common diseases. When the patient suffers from this disease, when the tooth encounters some hot, cold, sour or sweet foods, it will cause severe toothache, especially at night when the tooth hurts, it will make the patient unable to fall asleep. However, pulpitis can heal itself, and many people don’t know this.

One type of pulpitis is reversible pulpitis which may recover.

Reversible pulpitis is a milder form of pulpitis, equivalent to "pulp congestion". When the pulp is stimulated by temperature, it produces a short, sharp pain, which disappears immediately when the stimulation is removed. During clinical examination, all carious tissue was removed and no pulp holes were found; pulp electrometry examination showed that the reaction was the same as or slightly higher than that of normal teeth; cold stimulation test produced pain, which disappeared immediately after the stimulation was removed. Its main characteristics are: there is no history of spontaneous pain, and the pain disappears immediately after the stimulus is removed. Principles of treating reversible pulpitis: remove irritation and eliminate inflammation. After removing the carious tissue, use zinc oxide clove oil cement to temporarily seal the cavity, and treat it as deep caries when there are no symptoms. Other chronic pulpitis and acute pulpitis are irreversible.

Types of pulpitis

1. Acute pulpitis Acute pulpitis can develop from pulp congestion or from an acute attack of chronic pulpitis. According to the development process of inflammation, acute pulpitis can be divided into serous stage and suppurative stage.

(1) Acute serous pulpitis

The lesion is limited to the coronal pulp and is a localized serous pulpitis. When the lesion spreads to the root pulp, it is total serous pulpitis.

(2) Acute suppurative pulpitis

During the short serous phase of pulpitis, the exuded leukocytes continue to necrotize and liquefy, forming abscesses, which is acute suppurative pulpitis.

2. Chronic pulpitis

Chronic pulpitis is the most common clinical condition with atypical symptoms, and some cases may not have spontaneous pain. If the exudate of acute inflammation is drained but the inflammation is not completely eliminated, it may turn into chronic inflammation. On the contrary, if the body's resistance is reduced or local drainage is not smooth, chronic pulpitis will turn into acute pulpitis, which is an acute attack of chronic pulpitis.

(1) Chronic closed pulpitis

The dental pulp has not been exposed, but deep caries, crown fillings or other dental hard tissue diseases near the pulp can often be found. After removing the decayed and necrotic substances, there is no exposed pulp hole visible to the naked eye. Chronic inflammation can persist for a long time.

(2) Chronic ulcerative pulpitis

The pulp tissue has been exposed and ulcers have formed on the surface. Patients fail to use the affected teeth for a long time due to fear of pain, resulting in the accumulation of a large amount of plaque and tartar.

(3) Chronic hyperplastic pulpitis

It often occurs in young people whose pulp is exposed, causing a proliferative reaction due to mild but persistent stimulation. The red "mushroom" shaped granulation tissue in the large and deep caries cavities of the affected teeth is called dental pulp polyps. It is painless when explored but bleeds very easily. Generally there is no spontaneous pain. Sometimes the affected tooth feels painful or there is bleeding when eating. Tartar accumulation can often be seen on the affected tooth and its adjacent teeth.