Pulpotomy: The Ultimate Guide for Dental Students | Master the Procedure Like a Pro

Pulpotomy is the complete removal of the coronal portion of the dental pulp, followed by placement of a suitable dressing or medicament that will promote healing and preserve vitality of the tooth. The clinical scenarios in which pulpotomy can be done are when there is mechanical pulp exposure in primary teeth, teeth showing a large carious lesion but free of radicular pulpitis, history of only spontaneous pain, hemorrhage from exposure sites which can be controlled, no evidence of abscess or fistula, no interradicular bone loss, no interradicular radiolucency, at least two-thirds of root length still present to ensure reasonable functional life, and in young permanent teeth with vital exposed pulp and incompletely formed apices. Broadly, this procedure can be classified into vital and non-vital pulpotomies. Vital pulpotomies include devitalization, preservation, and regeneration. Mortal pulpotomy comes under non-vital. Although the formocresol pulpotomy technique has been recommended for many years as the principal method for treating primary teeth with carious exposures, a substantial shift away from use of this medicament has occurred because of concerns about its toxic effects. Many alternatives, including MTA, sodium hypochlorite, ferric sulfate, electrosurgery, and lasers, have been propeosed to replace formocresol as the medicament of choice for pulpotomy. Even still, formocresol continues to be a very commonly used pulpotomy medicament. References Dean JA Jones JE Sanders BJ Vinson LQAW Yepes JF Scully AC. Mcdonald and Avery's Dentistry for the Child and Adolescent. Eleventh ed. St. Louis Missouri: Elsevier; 2022. • Marwah N. Textbook of Pediatric Dentistry. Fourth ed. New Delhi India: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P); 2019. • open i: PubMed Central – PubMed Affiliation: Departments of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, P M N M Dental College and Hospital, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India. - Open i: PubMed Central – PubMed Affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics, Saraswati Dental College & Hospital, Lucknow, India.