Palwasha Babar, Anser Maxood, Sadia Khalid, Shahab-ud Din, Abul Kher Zalan, Maleeha Ijaz.
Comparison of mineral trioxide aggregate and formocresol as pulpotomy agent in primary molar teeth: a randomized clinical trial.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;39(1):18-23.

Pulpotomy is a routine pulp therapy in primary molars with deep caries. For decades, Formocresol (FC) is considered as a gold standard for this procedure. However concerns have been raised regarding its safety. Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has revolutionized modern endodontic procedures owing to its excellent biocompatibility and regenertive properties and is seen as a promising alternative to FC as a pulpotomy agent in primary teeth. The aim of the study was to compare the clinical and radiographic success of MTA and formocresol as pulpotomy agent for primary teeth. Patients aged between 4 to 8 years with carious primary molars, meeting the inclusion criteria were selected after thorough clinical and radiographic assessment. Sixty two teeth were randomly assigned to FC and MTA group comprising 31 teeth in each group. Conventional pulpotomy procedure was performed. In FC group, cotton pellet moistened with FC was placed on amputated pulp stumps for 5 minutes and then a base of zinc-oxide eugenol (ZOE) was placed. In the MTA group, MTA was placed an pulp stumps as pulp dressing material. The teeth were then restored with Glass Ionomer Cement (GIC). The patients were reviewed clinically and radiographically at 3, 6 and 12 months interval. The findings were documented and statistically analyzed. Both FC and MTA showed 100% clinical and radiographic results at 3 months follow-up. At 6 months, the clinical success rate of FC was 90.3% and that of MTA was 96.8% while the radiographic success rate was 77.4% and 83.9% respectively. At the end of 12 months, 82.1% and 86.7% clinical success rate was observed for FC and MTA respectively. The radiographic success for FC was found to be 70.8% while that of MTA was 88.5%. The results of this study show that MTA gives higher clinical and radiographic success rate compared to FC. Based on the results of this study, MTA has the potential to replace FC as pulpotomy agent.

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