CVD patients not more likely to develop pulp calcifications compared to non-CVD patients

This systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to evaluate the association between pulp calcifications (PC) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science and ProQuest) were searched to identify articles. Quality assessment of the selected articles was done using Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool and the inter-examiner agreement was calculated using the Cohen-Kappa test. The random-effects maximum likelihood model was used to evaluate the association between the conditions. Trim-and-fill funnel plot was used to evaluate the presence of publication bias. The level of evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) tool.

The results of the study are:

• A total of 2487 articles were identified from the initial search.
• Ten articles were included in this review of which 7 were cross-sectional and 3 were case-control studies.
• Eight articles had a low risk of bias (RoB), and one article each had a moderate and high RoB. inter-examiner reliability score was 0.8592.
• Seven articles reported a statistically significant positive association between CVD patients and PC. Two articles reported a non-significant positive association and one article reported no association between the same.
• A significant difference was observed in favour of CVD patients possessing more pulp calcifications in comparison to non-CVD patients with an OR of 4.30.
• Asymmetry in the Trim-and-fill funnel Plot suggested the presence of publication bias.
• GRADE analysis demonstrated low certainty of the evidence for the overall sample.

Thus, there exists a low level of evidence to show that CVD patients are more prone to have pulp calcifications in comparison to non-CVD patients.

Reference:

Saumya-Rajesh Parashar, Kinnari Kasabwala, Selvakarthikeyan Ulaganathan, Ashritha MCV, Priyal Khandelwal, Selva Arockiam, Velmurugan Natanasabapathy. ASSOCIATION OF PULP CALCIFICATIONS AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS. Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice, Volume 22, Issue 2, 2022, 101707, ISSN 1532-3382, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebdp.2022.101707.