Current trends in primary tooth pulp therapy

Pulp therapy in the primary dentition remains a technique generating a tremendous amount of study. Formocresol has been and continues to be the most commonly used intrapulpal medicament despite its known ability to escape the microcirculation of the pulp. Ferric sulfate has gained significant favor as a result of formocresol's disadvantages, though at the cost of requiring a much more acute awareness of the potential for remaining disease and its ability to mask that process. Mineral trioxide aggregate perhaps offers the best immediate alternative to either of the above though at this time it is still cost-prohibitive in a practice that actively treats many children. And, as MTA has no fixative properties of its own, accurately analyzing the extent of the pulpal disease becomes even more critical to the overall success of the procedure. As with other techniques in dentistry, the debate is sure to continue for severl years to come.