Clinical and radiographic evaluation of diode laser pulpotomy on human primary teeth

The aim of this investigation was to evaluate clinical and radiographic effects of diode laser pulpotomy on young human primary molars.

This double-blind, split-mouth randomized clinical trial was conducted on 14 children, aged 3-9 years. In total, 20 pairs of teeth were selected from those with pulpal exposure due to caries. Case selection was conducted based on clinical and radiographic criteria with similar teeth in each patient. One tooth was randomly assigned to diode laser pulpotomy as case and the other tooth was pulp-treated using formocresol as control. Diode laser at a 10-W power was applied on the remaining pulp tissue following coronal pulp amputation in the case group, while a cotton pellet with diluted formocresol was placed over the amputated pulp in the control group. Reinforced zinc oxide-eugenol paste was then placed over the pulp stump and the tooth was restored with stainless steel crown. A 6- and 12-month followed-up was conducted clinically and radiographically in order to assess the success rates. Data were analyzed with Fisher's exact test.

Clinical failure rate was almost zero when the cases were followed and examined clinically (100% success), with 95% and 90% of the cases in the case group (diode laser) being judged as successful in radiographic examination after 6 and 12 months, respectively. Cases in the control group (formocresol) had almost the same clinical success rate (100%) with no failure judged by radiographic evaluation at 6 and 12 months. These results did not show any significant differences when analyzed using Fisher's exact test (P > 0.05).

There was no significant difference between diode laser pulpotomy and formocresol pulpotomy of human primary teeth after 6 and 12 months. Only a fraction of cases (5%) had radiographic problems at their follow-up in the laser group.