Abstract
A clinical and radiographic follow up was conducted on 252 primary teeth (83 boys and 60 girls), who had been treated by vital pulp amputation with calcium hydroxide paste during the period from January 1988 to December 1992at The Pediatric Dentistry Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry, Kyushu University. The results obtained were as follows:
1. At the time of the final follow up examination for each treated tooth, the teeth judged as being successful numbered 184(73.0%) and those as being unsuccesful numbered 68(27.0%).
2. Among the anterior teeth, few cases were observed to be unsuccessful, while on the other hand, the unsuccessful cases were more numbered among the posterior teeth, particularly among the lower second deciduous molars.
3. According to the results at the time of each follow up examination,19.1%cases of all of the unsuccessful cases were observed 6 months after treatment, and some unsuccessful cases were observed after 24 months.
4. According to the age at the time of treatment, the range of the age of the unsuccessful cases was 6-7 years, when vital pulp amputation had been performed, and the number of unsuccessful cases was greater in comparison with the younger patients.
From those above findings, it was indicated that periodic follow up examinations should include radiographic observations of the treated deciduous teeth until they exfoliate.
