Two-year outcomes of electrosurgery and calcium-enriched mixture pulpotomy in primary teeth: a randomised clinical trial

Aim The purpose of this prospective split-mouth, randomised clinical trial was to assess the clinical and radiographic success rate of pulpotomy in primary molars using calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement or placement of zinc oxide eugenol after electrosurgery (ES/ZOE). Methods Pulpotomy was performed for 102 primary second molars in 51 children aged between 4 and 6 years. Considering a split-mouth design, for each patient the right and left second primary molars randomly underwent pulpotomy using CEM cement or ES/ZOE. All teeth were restored using preformed metal crowns. Following pulpotomy procedure, teeth were blindly evaluated for clinical and radiographic success after 6, 12 and 24 months. McNemar test and SPSS 16 software were used for the statistical analysis. Results After 24 months, clinical success rates were 100 % in both groups, however, radiographic success rates of ES/ZOE and CEM were calculated as 95.2 and 90 %, respectively, with no significant difference ( p = 0.625). The most common radiographic sign of failure was internal resorption. Conclusion The results of this investigation show that the treatment success rate with CEM cement was similar to the electrosurgical pulpotomy.