# Objectively Diagnosing Pulpitis: Opportunities and Methodological Challenges in the Development of Point-of-Care Assays

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the need for better objective tools to diagnose pulpitis and highlights the potential of molecular biomarkers for improving dental treatment decisions.

## Contribution

The paper emphasizes the potential of molecular biomarkers for pulpitis diagnosis and calls for collaboration to develop point-of-care assays.

## Key findings

- Current point-of-care tools for pulpitis are subjective and lack discrimination.
- Molecular biomarkers like chemokines and cytokines show promise for objective pulpitis diagnosis.
- There is no commercial availability of biomarker-based diagnostic kits for pulpitis.

## Abstract

Pulpitis is the inflammatory response of the dental pulp to microbial challenge and can range from mild to severe in nature, with severe pulpitis traditionally resulting in pulp removal and root canal treatment (RCT). In the pursuit of more conservative treatments, recent clinical practice guidelines have recommended strategies that preserve the vitality of the dental pulp, rather than RCT, when possible. This has increased the focus on improving the accuracy of pulp diagnosis, which will direct treatment and improve management outcomes. Unfortunately, current point-of-care (PoC) tools are subjective, lack discrimination and rely on the stimulation of pulpal neurons, limiting dentists’ ability to objectively identify the level of inflammation. Molecular biomarker assessment has the potential to dynamically analyse pulpitis and correlate this with inflammatory thresholds and treatment outcomes. Numerous chemokines, cytokines, proteases and growth factors exhibit altered expression during pulpitis and can be collected intraoperatively as part of routine dental treatment. Although current data indicate several markers that could be used as next-generation diagnostic chairside tools for pulpitis, there are currently no commercial kits. Considering the interest in vital pulp treatment, there is an urgent need to engage researchers, industry, dentists and other stakeholders in the development of PoC diagnostic assays for pulpitis.