The development of formocresol as a medicament for primary molar pulpotomy procedures

The development of formocresol as a pulpotomy medicament is charted from the 19th Century to the present day. While the solution has come in and out of vogue, few agents can seriously challenge its efficacy. Doubts about its toxicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity have led, however, to a call for a more dilute formulation as well as a review of alternative medicaments. Problems arise in deriving an appropriate formula for a dilute version from existing formulations, which appear to have misinterpreted the concentration of constituents in the original solution.