Aim: To evaluate the clinical and radiographic pulpotomy outcomes in permanent molars diagnosed as irreversible pulpitis using Calcium Enriched Mixture (CEM) as the pulpotomy material.
Materials and Methods: Eight patients with 8 permanent molars demonstrating signs and symptoms of symptomatic / asymptomatic irreversible pulpitis were included. For all patients, after rubber dam application, standardized pulpotomy was performed. Sodium hypochlorite 5 % was used to obtain haemostasis. A mixture of CEM was placed in the pulp chamber. Molars were restored with a glass ionomer restoration. After seven days, the glass ionomer restoration was covered by stainless steel crowns. Recall assessment was appointed at 3, 6, 12 months.
Results: Patients' age at the time of treatment was at range from 9.10 to 15 years. Most of the molars (75%) were having symptomatic irreversible pulpitis, with 88% demonstrating symptomatic apical periodontitis. To stop pulpal hemorrhage time range was between 1-12 minutes
(mean 4.8 ± 4.5 minutes). The follow-up examination period ranged from 15- 17 months with a mean of 16.6 ± 0.5 months. At the beginning of the study 3 molars that had open apices (38%) all of them showed continued root maturation. Four molars that showed radiographic apical radiolucencies (50%), all lesions healed completely by the end of the follow-up period. One case (13%) showed partial with no complete root canal obliteration. There were neither periradicular bone nor root resorption. Additionally, no evidence of internal root resorption was noticed.
Conclusion: Successful outcomes of this case series recommend the use of CEM as a simple, useful and applicable pulpotomy agent in the treatment of permanent molars having irreversible pulpitis. However, more studies are needed to assess this procedure including larger number of patients over longer period of recalls.