One Year Comparison of Clinical and Radiographic Success Rate of Ferric Sulfate and Sodium Hypochlorite for Primary Molar Teeth Pulpotomy

Formocresol has been used for primary molar pulpotomy in the past but numerous alternatives have been introduced because of its disadvantages. One of these substitutes is hypochlorite sodium (Naocl) which has shown satisfactory results in spite of few studies on it. The aim of this study was to compare clinical and radiographic success rates pulpotomy treatment in primary molars using 5% sodium hypochlorite versus ferric sulfate (FS) 15.5%. In this study, pulpotomies were performed in mandibular second primary molars in 60 teeth which had sufficient indications for pulpotomy. In each Patient, one tooth was randomized into FS pulpotomy group and one tooth in Naocl group. The teeth were pulpotomised and treated with FS or Naocl. Fallowing treatment, the pulp chamber was Filled with zinc oxide eugenol (ZnOE) and restored with a stainless steel crown. Clinical and radiographic outcomes were recorded at 6 and 12 months. Outcomes were evaluated with Fishers exact test. Both groups (FS as control group and Naocl as experimental group demonstrated 100% clinical success rates at 6 months. But at 12 months clinical success rate for Naocl was 100% compared with 93.3% for FS (P=0.22). Radiographic success rates for Naocl and FS were 96.7% and 100% respectively at 6 months (P=0.5) and 93.7% and 97.3% at 12 months (P=0.5). No significant differences were found in the radiographic and clinical outcomes between the two groups at 6 and 12 months. Naocl demonstrated clinical and radiographic success rate comparable to FS in primary molar pulpotomy.