Clinical and radiographic outcomes comparison between various types of laser pulpotomy and formocresol pulpotomy on primary molars: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: The purpose of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate clinical and radiographic outcomes comparison between various types of laser pulpotomy and formocresol pulpotomy on primary molars. Methods: According to the research design, we employed MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and ISI as the electronic databases for performing a systematic literature review between 2010 to June 2020. Therefore, a commercially accessible software program (Endnote X9) was utilized for the electronic title administration. Searches were performed with mesh terms. Log-odds ratio between two groups (laser pulpotomy and formocresol pulpotomy) with a 95 % confidence interval (CI), random-effect model, and restricted maximumlikelihood (REML) method were calculated. The Meta-analysis and forest plots have been evaluated using software program available in the market (i.e., Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Stata V16). Results: 561 potentially relevant abstracts and topics were obtained in the course of the manual and electronic searches, and finally, nine studies were included. For 6-months follow-up clinical outcome, the Odds ratio was (OR, -0.37 95 % CI -1.43, 0.68. P= 0.49) among 8 studies and heterogeneity found (I-2= 0%; P= 0.93). This result showed there was no statistically significant difference between Laser Pulpotomy and formocresol pulpotomy. Conclusion: Diode laser is more suitable for dental pulpotomy than other lasers, and its clinical and radiographic success rate is similar and even higher than that of formocresol pulpotomy.