Electrosurgical pulpotomy: a retrospective human study.

While the formocresol pulpotomy has enjoyed long-term clinical use and success, concerns over its toxicity and mutagenicity have prompted research into other pulpotomy techniques. The purpose of this study was to observe retrospectively the results of the electrosurgical pulpotomy technique used on primary molar teeth requiring pulp therapy, secondary to carious involvement. The mean age at the time of treatment was 5 years, 11 months and the mean postoperative observation time was 2 years, 3 months. Of the 164 teeth studied, 127 were normal at the last observation visit; 32 had undergone exfoliation; 4 had an abnormality associated with the pulpotomized tooth, but were not considered failures; and 1 was considered a failure. This is a 99.4 percent success rate. Compared to a formocresol pulpotomy study of similar design, the success rate for the electrosurgical pulpotomy procedure in this study is higher at the statistically significant level of p < 0.01.