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K04.2 ICD-10-CM Code: Pulp degeneration

Billing Status: YES. This is a valid, specific, and billable ICD-10-CM reference.

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
3 inclusion terms

Inpatient Payment Groups (MS-DRG)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

MS-DRGs this diagnosis helps define, as principal or secondary, per the CMS ICD-10-CM/PCS MS-DRG Definitions Manual v43, Appendix B.

  • MS-DRG 011 — TRACHEOSTOMY FOR FACE, MOUTH AND NECK DIAGNOSES OR LARYNGECTOMY WITH MCC (MDC PRE)
  • MS-DRG 012 — TRACHEOSTOMY FOR FACE, MOUTH AND NECK DIAGNOSES OR LARYNGECTOMY WITH CC (MDC PRE)
  • MS-DRG 013 — TRACHEOSTOMY FOR FACE, MOUTH AND NECK DIAGNOSES OR LARYNGECTOMY WITHOUT CC/MCC (MDC PRE)
  • MS-DRG 157 — DENTAL AND ORAL DISEASES WITH MCC (MDC 03)
  • MS-DRG 158 — DENTAL AND ORAL DISEASES WITH CC (MDC 03)
  • MS-DRG 159 — DENTAL AND ORAL DISEASES WITHOUT CC/MCC (MDC 03)

A diagnosis appearing in a group's logic does not by itself determine the DRG assigned to a stay; the grouper uses the full claim.

Coding instructions

Official Tabular Instructional Notes: the inclusion, exclusion and sequencing notes published for K04.2 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

Source: CMS/CDC — ICD-10-CM Tabular ListRelease: FY2026Effective: October 1, 2025

Inclusion Terms

Alternative terms the tabular list files under this code.

  • Denticles
  • Pulpal calcifications
  • Pulpal stones

Code Overview

Pulp degeneration is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code (K04.2).

MedCoder summary Summary composed by MedCoder from this code's official ICD-10-CM record. The tabular instructional notes themselves appear verbatim below.

Indexed Clinical Terms (8)

Official source data — entries quoted as published, in the Index’s own lookup phrasing

Clinical term phrases from the official ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries that map to this code. These are alphabetic-index entries shown as the Index writes them — lookup phrasing, not necessarily the wording of a final diagnosis.

Official Coding Guidelines

No excerpt in the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines names this code specifically. Its chapter carries only this chapter-wide note:

Chapter 11: Diseases of the Digestive System (K00-K95)

Reserved for future guideline expansion

Verify Before Coding

  • No Medicare Code Editor or MS-DRG Definitions Manual restrictions apply to this code.

From the code registry, the Medicare Code Editor, and the MS-DRG Definitions Manual. Check it against a full claim in Claim Check.

Relationships & Classification

MedCoder structured relationships — computed from published CMS and AHRQ datasets

MS-DRG Grouper Relationships (FY2026)

Potential MS-DRG participation — not a DRG assignment.

FY2026 MS-DRG: not on the CMS CC/MCC list — as a secondary diagnosis this code does not change MS-DRG severity for that release.

Named in the grouper logic of 6 MS-DRGs: DRG 011 (MDC PRE), DRG 012 (MDC PRE), DRG 013 (MDC PRE), DRG 157 (MDC 03), DRG 158 (MDC 03), DRG 159 (MDC 03).

From the CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (Appendices B and C). Actual DRG assignment depends on the complete claim.

Clinical classification (AHRQ CCSR):DIG002 — Disorders of teeth and gingiva (default); DEN001 — Any dental condition including traumatic injury; DEN002 — Nontraumatic dental conditions; DEN003 — Caries, periodontitis, and other preventable dental conditions.

Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR) for ICD-10-CM Diagnoses. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Related Codes

Same clinical category (CCSR)

AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software groups these diagnoses under the same clinical categories (Disorders of teeth and gingiva, Any dental condition including traumatic injury, Nontraumatic dental conditions, Caries, periodontitis, and other preventable dental conditions).

K03.5 — Ankylosis of teeth, K03.6 — Deposits [accretions] on teeth, K03.7 — Posteruptive color changes of dental hard tissues, K03.81 — Cracked tooth, K03.89 — Other specified diseases of hard tissues of teeth, K03.9 — Disease of hard tissues of teeth, unspecified, K04.0 — Pulpitis, K04.01 — Reversible pulpitis, K04.02 — Irreversible pulpitis, K04.1 — Necrosis of pulp, K04.3 — Abnormal hard tissue formation in pulp, K04.4 — Acute apical periodontitis of pulpal origin, K04.5 — Chronic apical periodontitis, K04.6 — Periapical abscess with sinus, K04.7 — Periapical abscess without sinus, K04.8 — Radicular cyst, K04.90 — Unspecified diseases of pulp and periapical tissues, K04.99 — Other diseases of pulp and periapical tissues, K05.00 — Acute gingivitis, plaque induced, K05.01 — Acute gingivitis, non-plaque induced, +613 more

Same Index main term, other category

The ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries files this code under the main terms “Stone”, “Degeneration, degenerative”, “Calcification”, …; these codes share that main term but sit in a different category of the Tabular List.

J34.3 — Hypertrophy of nasal turbinates (hypertrophic, turbinate, nasal), J34.89 — Other specified disorders of nose and nasal sinuses (hypertrophic, nasal sinus), J38.7 — Other diseases of larynx (larynx), J39.8 — Other specified diseases of upper respiratory tract (trachea), J94.8 — Other specified pleural conditions (pleura), J98.09 — Other diseases of bronchus, not elsewhere classified (bronchus), J98.4 — Other disorders of lung (lung), K00.4 — Disturbances in tooth formation (dentinal papilla), K00.8 — Other disorders of tooth development (color, tooth, teeth, during formation), K03.7 — Posteruptive color changes of dental hard tissues (color, tooth, teeth, posteruptive), K11.5 — Sialolithiasis (salivary gland or duct), K31.89 — Other diseases of stomach and duodenum (stomach), K70.0 — Alcoholic fatty liver (fatty, liver NEC, alcoholic), K71.9 — Toxic liver disease, unspecified (liver NEC, toxic), K72.00 — Acute and subacute hepatic failure without coma (liver NEC, parenchymatous, acute or subacute), K72.01 — Acute and subacute hepatic failure with coma (liver NEC, parenchymatous, acute or subacute, with coma), K76.0 — Fatty (change of) liver, not elsewhere classified (fatty, liver NEC), K76.7 — Hepatorenal syndrome (hepatorenal), K76.89 — Other specified diseases of liver (liver NEC), K82.8 — Other specified diseases of gallbladder (gallbladder), +216 more

Contextual Map

Every relationship of K04.2 in one view: hierarchy, official tabular instructions in both directions, clinical classification, risk adjustment, MS-DRG participation, index terms and change history — each edge carrying the CMS source it derives from.

Hierarchy

Clinical classification (CCSR)

MS-DRG Grouper

MDC crossing

  • Pre-MDC[MDC crossing]: “Pre-MDC — the grouper's crossing between diagnoses and procedures: a principal diagnosis sets the MDC, and same-MDC procedures move the stay to its surgical DRGs. 153 same-MDC procedures group here; browse them on the MDC page.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2026
  • MDC 03 — Diseases and Disorders of the Ear, Nose, Mouth and Throat[MDC crossing]: “Diseases and Disorders of the Ear, Nose, Mouth and Throat — the grouper's crossing between diagnoses and procedures: a principal diagnosis sets the MDC, and same-MDC procedures move the stay to its surgical DRGs. 5,147 same-MDC procedures group here; browse them on the MDC page.”— CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual · FY2026

Index entries

  • Calcification, dental pulp (nodular)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Calcification, pulpal (dental) (nodular)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Change (s) (in) (of), dental pulp, regressive[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Change (s) (in) (of), regressive, dental pulp[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Degeneration, degenerative, dental pulp[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Degeneration, degenerative, pulp (tooth)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Denticles (pulp)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026
  • Stone (s), pulpal (dental)[Index term]— CMS ICD-10-CM Index to Diseases and Injuries · icd10cm-fy2026

Nearest codes (14)

Change history

  • FY2016 — In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption [Change history]— CMS release files (code change ledger) · icd10cm-fy2016

Sources for this page

Codes, titles, notes, index terms and mappings on this page are transcribed from the datasets below. Relationships MedCoder computed and text MedCoder wrote are labelled where they appear.

Code, title, tabular notes and index terms Official source data
CMS/CDC ICD-10-CM FY2026 tabular list, index and tables, effective October 1, 2025 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Coding guidelines Official source data
ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting (FY2026), quoted by section Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Claim edits Official source data
CMS Definitions of Medicare Code Edits — v43.1 (April 2026) Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Inpatient payment groups Official source data
CMS MS-DRG Definitions Manual (incl. Appendix B diagnosis index, Appendix C CC/MCC list, Appendix E procedure index) and IPPS Final Rule tables — v43 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Change history and date-of-service validity Official source data
CMS ICD-10-CM release addenda, ingested release by release into the change ledger Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Comparisons, relationships and the contextual map MedCoder structured relationship
Computed by MedCoder from the tabular notes and tables above; every derived relationship is marked as derived where it appears
Summary and FAQ answers MedCoder explanation
Written by MedCoder to explain the sources above: drafted with AI assistance, checked by a person against the release files, and labelled as MedCoder text where it appears. Not official text.

Labels on this page: Official source data · MedCoder structured relationship · MedCoder explanation. How to read the labels · All data sources and release dates

Cite this page

Reference this page in a research guide, syllabus or article. The release is included because code content changes each year.

MedCoder.ai. "K04.2 — Pulp degeneration." ICD-10-CM FY2026. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/k04.2-pulp-degeneration

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Pulp degeneration

No changes since FY2016 — additions, deletions, description changes and billable-status changes are tracked through FY2027 (effective October 1, 2026), and none are recorded for this code. Note changes are tracked from FY2027 only.

Nearest Codes in This Family

Official ICD-10-CM classifications closest to K04.2 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the K04 family