[A 24 month evaluation of zinc oxide pulpotomy on primary canines]

Pulpotomy is the most performed and controversial therapeutic in pediatric dentistry. Since formocresol is known to have a toxic effect on living tissues, plus a mutagenic and carcinogenic potential with a systemic uptake of formocresol via pulpotomized teeth, other alternative products have been investigated. Twenty-five decayed primary canines and twenty-five healthy primary canines necessitating disking for orthodontic purposes were pulpotomized using non modified Zinc Oxide Eugenol. The effects of this material were evaluated both clinically and radiographically. Post operative control examinations were performed at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months trying to detect spontaneous or stimulated pain, pathological tooth mobility, abscesses or fistulas, internal or external pathological tooth resorption, periapical bone destruction, or canal obliteration. Pain was absent at 24 months post operatively. Half of the treated canines presented with a mobility, while internal and external resorptions were more frequent in decayed teeth and their number increased with time. On the other hand, abscesses and fistulas were equally found in both treated groups. The observations were compared to others related to formocresol ferric sulfate, MTA, and laser pulpotomies, using the binominal law, or the comparative test of an observed proportion to a reference proportion. In this study, and based on the excessive negative results in both groups, we demonstrated that non fixative pulpotomies on temporary canines were not a promising technique.