Deep caries presents a dilemma in terms of which treatment that will render an optimal prognosis by maintaining pulp vitality with absence of apical pathology. Previously, 2 randomized clinical trials were performed testing the short-term effects of stepwise carious tissue removal versus nonselective carious removal to hard dentin with or without pulp exposure. The aim of this article was to report the 5-y outcome on these previously treated patients having radiographically well-defined carious lesions extending into the pulpal quarter of the dentin but with a well-defined radiodense zone between the carious lesion and the pulp. In this long-term study, 239 of 314 (76.2%) patients were analyzed. The stepwise removal group had a significantly higher proportion of success (60.2%) at 5-y follow-up compared with the nonselective carious removal to hard dentin group (46.3%) ( P = 0.031) when pulp exposures per se were included as failures. Pulp exposure rate was significantly lower in the stepwise carious removal group (21.2% vs. 35.5%; P = 0.014). Irrespective of pulp exposure status, the difference (13.3%) was still significant when sustained pulp vitality without apical radiolucency and unbearable pain was considered (95% confidence interval, 3.1-26.3, P = 0.045). After pulp exposure, only 9% ( n = 4) of the analyzed patients were assessed as successful, indicating that the prognosis is highly dubious following conventional pulp-capping procedures (direct pulp capping or partial pulpotomy) in deep carious lesions in adults. In conclusion, the stepwise carious removal group had a significantly higher proportion of pulps with sustained vitality without apical radiolucency versus nonselective carious removal of deep carious lesions in adult teeth at 5-y follow-up ( ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00187837 and NCT00187850).
Keywords: caries treatment; clinical outcomes; clinical studies; dentin; endodontics; operative dentistry.