Aim: The aim is to assess the clinical and radiographic effect of partial pulpotomy versus complete pulpotomy using MTA in asymptomatic vital primary molars with deep caries.
Materials and methods: A randomized controlled clinical split-mouth trial was designed, 50 mandibular molars in 25 children aged 4 to 6 years were assigned into two groups (n=25). Each patient had two deep carious non-symptomatic primary molars. Partial pulpotomy (group A) and complete pulpotomy (group B) were done for each child. After coronal pulp amputation and achieving hemostasis, MTA was placed over pulp stumps and teeth covered with stainless steel crown. All treated patients were followed-up at 1 week, and 3,6,9 months post-operatively.
Results: The partial pulpotomy (group A) showed failure in two cases (8%). The first case reported clinical failure (pain and swelling) and radiographic failure (bone resorption and root resorption) at 6 months follow-up. Complete pulpotomy (group B) showed a success rate of 100% clinically and radiographically.
Conclusions: The overall success rate of maintaining pulp vitality of 92.0% suggests that partial pulpotomy is a viable operative approach to treat primary teeth with deep carious lesions.