Introduction: Pulpotomy is the most commonly attempted vital pulp therapy procedure to treat symptomless pulp exposures in primary teeth; however, the search for the ideal bactericidal and biocompatible medicament still continues despite the numerous clinical trials with different materials. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to clinically and radiographically evaluate the success rate of 6.25% aqueous extract of Rosmarinus officinalis in comparison to formecresol as a pulpotomy dressing medicament in vital primary molars.
Methods: Twenty-five children aged 4-7 year with bilateral vital mandibular primary first molars indicated for pulpotomy were included in the present study. They were divided into two groups (A) and (B), 25 molars each; where each side of the patient received a different pulpotomy medicament; R-officinalis and formecresol. Both groups were assessed clinically and radiographically for six months.
Results: After 6 months, the cumulative survival rates were 92.0% and 81.0% respectively for R-officinalis and formocresol with no statistically significant difference between the survival rates of the two medicaments. Clinical success for R-officinalis showed 96.0% while formocresol showed 88.0% clinical success. In addition, radiographic evaluation revealed higher mean inter-radicular bone density in the R-officinalis pulpotomy group when compared to the formocresol pulpotomy group.
Conclusions: Based on the high cumulative clinical and radiographic survival results revealed in the present study, Rosmarinus officinalis can be considered a successful alternative pulpotomy medicament for formocresol with promising results in the treatment of vital primary molars.