Evaluation of clinical and radiological outcomes of mineral trioxide aggregate and calcium hydroxide as indirect pulp capping agents in the treatment of deep carious lesion of permanent teeth

The maintenance of pulp vitality and conduction of reparative dentin can be possible by indirect pulp capping with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and calcium hydroxide as pulp capping agents. The objective of the study is to assess the clinical and radiological outcomes of MTA and calcium hydroxide as indirect pulp capping agents in deep carious lesions of permanent teeth. The present study included 50 permanent teeth having deep carious lesions with reversible pulp status were selected and then randomly divided into two groups of 25 teeth in a group. Standard indirect pulp capping procedures were followed. Patients were recalled at 3, 6 and 12 months interval to assess postoperative pain, the vitality of the pulp and formation of reparative dentin. In all observation periods, MTA showed more capable of reducing pain and maintain pulp vitality which was statistically significant than that of calcium hydroxide. At 12 months observation period, 24 teeth (96%) of MTA and 19 teeth (76%) of calcium hydroxide showed reparative dentin formation. It can be concluded that MTA is more effective than that of calcium hydroxide.