Heat testing for dental pulps
Today I had a situation where I had to heat test some teeth to diagnose where the patient's pain was coming from. The situation was lingering pain from a lower molar elicited by hot and cold stimuli. The cold test was being inconsistent and wasn't reproducing the lingering pain that the patient was describing. I was given a Q tip to carry the cold spray but I find that looser materials such as cotton rolls or cotton pellets are better at carrying the liquid and will retain the cold for longer. It may have been that my method for cold testing wasn't efficient enough at carrying the cold into the tooth. The carrier for cold will warm up quickly once in the mouth and it may not be cold enough to elicit a response from the pulpal nerves. I wasn't getting anywhere so I decided to heat test the pulps. It has probably been about 5 years since I've had to do this but in the odd time that it is used, it is very useful in reproducing their pain. A few methods for heat testin...