Clinical and radiographic evaluation of two different zinc oxide based root canal obturating materials in single visit pulpectomy of primary molars

Background Pulpectomy is the process of mechanically extracting diseased pulp tissue from a deciduous tooth’s root canals, followed by good cleaning by copious irrigation with disinfectant solution, chemo-mechanical cleaning, shaping, and filling with suitable obturating material with a good coronal seal. Aim The purpose of this study was to assess zinc oxide sodium fluoride as a substitute obturating material for primary teeth both clinically and radiographically. Patients and methods This study was carried out on 35 children of both sexes aged from 4 to 7 years old, complaining of deep carious lesions in bilateral lower primary molars, indicated for nonvital pulp therapy. The mandibular molars were randomly allocated into two groups: group I (Study group): The molars were obturated with zinc oxide fluoride paste. Group II (Control group): the molars were obturated with zinc oxide eugenol (ZOE) paste. The two groups had received preoperative standardized digital periapical radiographs using a parallel technique with fixed radiographical exposure parameters. Radiographs were taken using the extension cone parallel technique to ensure standardization. All teeth were finally restored with glass ionomer restoration, then covered by stainless-steel crowns, then immediate postoperative digital periapical radiographs were taken by the same parameters to evaluate the quality of obturation. Results At the end of the study, the overall clinical success rate of Zinc oxide fluoride group was 91.43%, while ZOE group was 88.57%. The two groups were clinically successful with no statistically significant difference between them ( P = 0.148). The overall radiographic success rate of Zinc oxide fluoride group was 88.57%, while for ZOE group was 77.14%. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( P = 0.385). Conclusion Zinc oxide fluoride paste may be good obturating material for primary molars.