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4. Select the volume and pulse level by pressing the mode button, and then adjust
the volume and pulse speed by pressing the adjustment button.
5. Isolate the tooth under test from moisture and blow to dry the tooth surface. If
there is calculus at the tooth neck, it must be cleaned.
6. Place the lip hook at the corner of the patient’s mouth, and apply a layer of
conductive agent (e.g. toothpaste) to the pulp tester probe. Place the probe on the
middle 1/3 of the labial (buccal) surface or 1/3 of the tooth neck.
7. When the probe and the hook are in good contact, the reading will
automatically increase slowly from “0”. Remove the probe when the patient reacts
and record the value causing the reaction. Generally, the test can be repeated twice
and the average value should be taken. If there is a big difference between the two
values, the third test should be performed, and then the average of two similar values
should be taken.
8. If the contact with the tooth to be tested is interrupted and contact is made
again within 1s, the pulse value will not be cleared, and the test can be continued
without resetting.
9. Before testing the affected tooth, a normal control tooth needs to be tested to
obtain a relative normal response value as a control. The control tooth is preferred to
the contralateral normal tooth of the same name, followed by the corresponding jaw
tooth of the same name and finally the healthy adjacent tooth in the same quadrant as
the affected tooth.
Note: The value obtained by the pulp tester must be compared with the normal
control tooth before it is of diagnostic value. Since the intensity of response to
the pulse signal varies from patient to patient, there will be false positive or false
negative performance in practice, so pulp test cannot be used as the only basis for
diagnosis.
