Prevalence of pulpal stones in a Saudi subpopulation

The aim of the study was to determine how prevalent pulpal stones are in the Saudi subpopulation utilizing periapical radiographs, and also to see if there is any correlation between pulpal stone and age, sex, position in the dental arch or any other dental condition or irritant.

A sample of 700 patients were randomly selected from the dental records available in the database at College of Dentistry, University of Hail. The final sample was 298 dental patient records, 1306 teeth were examined from 1052 periapical radiographs, both parallel and bisecting techniques were included. All radiographs were examined by two examiners. Data were analyzed using (SPSS) utilizing Chi-square analysis. Any difference was considered significant if the p ≤ 0.05.

Of the 298 patients, 153 were males and 145 were females. We assessed a total of 1306 teeth for the presence of pulp stones. The overall prevalence of pulp stones in the whole study population was 28% and the prevalence based on the number of teeth examined was found to be 12%. The prevalence of pulpal stones was noted to be higher in molars, and in non-intact teeth.

The prevalence of pulp stones in the Saudi subpopulation studied was 28% in patients, and 12% in all teeth. Pulp stones prevailed more in carious and restored teeth. Aging was associated with an increase in pulpal stones incidence. Sex predilection, however, didn’t have any influence on the occurrence of pulpal stones.