Histological changes within dental pulps in teeth with moderate-to-severe chronic periodontitis.

AIM: To investigate the effect of chronic periodontitis on dental pulps by assessing histological changes in the pulps of teeth with moderate-to-severe periodontitis. METHODOLOGY: A total of 242 teeth from 162 patients with moderate-to-severe periodontitis were collected, and histological changes in pulps were investigated by staining with haematoxylin and eosin. Baseline data were taken from the patients' records before extraction. The morphologic changes observed in the pulp were classified as degree I, degree II, degree III and degree IV. Statistical analysis of the severity of periodontitis and histological changes with the pulps was applied using the Mann-Whitney U rank sum test, whilst the contingency coefficient was used to analyse the inter-relationship between the severity of periodontitis and histological changes in the pulps. RESULTS: The inter-relationship between the severity of periodontitis and histological changes in the pulps was 0.274 (P < 0.001), and significant differences existed between teeth with moderate periodontitis and severe periodontitis group (Z = 4.145, P < 0.001). The inter-relationship between attachment loss and histological changes in the pulps was 0.397 (P < 0.001). There were significant differences in the histological changes amongst teeth with various degrees of attachment loss (chi(2) = 33.023, P < 0.001) and amongst teeth in different locations (chi(2) = 23.163, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There was a positive association between the severity of periodontitis and histological changes within the pulp. More attachment loss was correlated with pathological changes within the dental pulp.