REVIEW Recent progress in understanding the molecular and cellular changes during tooth development and how they are mimicked during tissue repair, offers the opportunity to assess the biologic validity of the various vital pulp treatments. Under this light, indirect pulp treatment can be an acceptable procedure for primary teeth with reversible pulp inflammation, provided that this diagnosis i...

PURPOSE The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the radiographic findings with formocresol and ferric sulfate pulpotomies in relation to early tooth loss. METHODS Vital pulpotomies with either ferric sulfate or formocresol, performed by faculty members between 1992 and 2002 at The University of Iowa, were evaluated retrospectively. Radiographic criteria were established to ass...

Formocresol applied to vital pulp tissue may be absorbed systemically. The possible effect of the systemic absorption of formocresol is unknown. The purpose of this project was to determine the acute toxic effect of systemically administered formocresol. Two dogs were anesthetized and Buckley’s formocresol was administered i.v. a t doses of 0.05 and 0.1 5 ml/kg respectively. Blood pressure and ...

Intracanal medications have historically played an important role in root canal therapy. Their purpose is to establish an antimicrobial environment within the pulp chamber (1). The root canal system may contain significant types and numbers of organisms that cause acute exacerbations, delay treatment procedures, and retard or prevent healing. Although mechanical instrumentation and frequent irr...

AIMS This in vivo study aimed to assess and compare the relative clinical and radiographic success of formocresol, glutaraldehyde and ferric sulphate as medicaments following pulpotomies in primary molars at three-monthly intervals over one year. METHODS The study was carried out on 90 primary molars in 54 children aged from 3 to 9 years. Selected teeth were equally distributed and randomly a...

Pulpotomy therapy is the treatment of choice for cariously exposed vital primary molars. Controversies surrounding formocresol which enjoys good clinical success as a pulpotomy medicament has triggered the search for better alternatives. The objective of this narrative review is to provide an overview of the materials that have been studied as alternatives to formocresol to aid clinicians in ma...

Serial dilution and agar overlay techniques were used to compare the cytotoxicity of formocresol, 19% formaldehyde, 35% cresol, and 2.5% glutaraldehyde to human pulp fibroblasts. The maximum nontoxic concentration of each agent was determined to allow quantitative comparisons both of the agents tested and of the techniques used. Formaldehyde was found to be the major component of formocresol wh...

Preventive measures have helped to minimize the occurrence of dental caries. However, premature loss of primary teeth on account of dental caries still remains a common problem among children. The pulpotomy technique has been the choice for treating vital primary and young permanent teeth with carious, mechanical and traumatic pulp exposures. The ideal pulpotomy medicament should be bioinductiv...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the response of the human primary pulp to the carbon dioxide laser and formocresol for vital pulp therapy. METHODS Fifteen healthy children with intact, caries-and-restoration-free, contralateral primary cuspids with at least two-thirds of the roots remaining who were scheduled for orthodontic extraction were randomly assigned to pulpotomy tre...