A radiographic correlation between renal and pulp stones

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between pulp stones and renal stones. This study also aimed to report associations between the presence of pulp stone and gender, age, tooth type, dental arches and sides. Patients and Methods: Data were collected through examination of bitewing radiographs of 116 kidney stone patients and a similar number of age-matched controls, referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Erciyes University. Two oral radiologists examined the radiographs to identify pulp stones. The Chi-squared and Mann Whitney U tests were used to investigate the correlations between the presence of pulp chamber calcification and age, gender, dental status and kidney stone. Results: Pulp chamber opacities were detected in 199 (19.3%) out of the 1031 examined teeth, and in 84 (72.4%) out of the 116 kidney stone patients. There was no statistically significant difference between the study and control group (p = 0.882). The occurrence of pulp stones was significantly higher in molars than premolars and similar prevalences were found between dental arches and sides. Conclusion: In this study, no correlation was found between the presence of pulp stones and kidney stones in the investigated group. Therefore, the presence of pulp stones does not seem to be correlated with that of kidney stones.