Electrosurgical pulpotomy: a retrospective human study

Area of Science:

• Dentistry
• Pediatric Dentistry
• Endodontics

Background:

• Formocresol pulpotomy, a long-standing clinical procedure, faces scrutiny due to toxicity and mutagenicity concerns.
• This has driven the search for safer and equally effective alternative pulp therapy techniques for primary teeth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To retrospectively evaluate the clinical outcomes of electrosurgical pulpotomy in primary molar teeth requiring pulp therapy due to carious lesions.
• To compare the success rate of electrosurgical pulpotomy with established formocresol pulpotomy studies.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective analysis of 164 electrosurgical pulpotomy procedures performed on primary molars.
• Mean patient age at treatment was 5 years, 11 months, with a mean follow-up period of 2 years, 3 months.
• Success was defined by the absence of clinical and radiographic abnormalities, excluding normal physiological exfoliation.

Main Results:

• The electrosurgical pulpotomy technique achieved a remarkable 99.4% success rate (163 out of 164 teeth).
• 127 teeth were normal, 32 exfoliated normally, and 4 showed non-failure related abnormalities.
• Only 1 tooth was classified as a failure.
• The success rate was statistically significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that reported for formocresol pulpotomy in similar studies.

Conclusions:

• Electrosurgical pulpotomy is a highly effective and successful treatment for primary molar pulp therapy.
• The technique presents a statistically significant higher success rate compared to formocresol pulpotomy.
• Electrosurgical pulpotomy provides a viable, safer alternative to formocresol, addressing toxicity concerns in pediatric endodontics.