Purpose: This preliminary investigation seeks to assess clinical and radiographic outcomes of Biodentine™ (BD) as a pulpotomy medicament compared with one-minute full-strength formocresol (FC) and white MTA (WMTA).

Materials and methods: Determined by power analysis, 90 primary molars of 73 four- to eight-year-olds with at least two asymptomatic molars. These teeth, displaying pulp exposure during caries excavation, were randomly assigned to receive BD, WMTA or FC pulpotomy and restored with preformed metal crowns. At the 12-month follow-up, recordings of treated teeth of these patients were taken for clinical and radiographic findings. Clinical evaluation was done by a blinded calibrated evaluator, whereas four evaluators scored each radiograph for pathologies based upon a modified Zurn and Seale criteria. The data were subjected to statistical analysis.

Results: At 12 months, 100% clinical success was observed with all groups. The radiographic success at 12 months was 92.9%, 75% and 92.9% for BD, FC and WMTA groups respectively (p = 0.073).

Conclusion: Biodentine™ can be suggested as a pulpotomy agent for primary teeth. However, further clinical studies with long-term follow-ups are needed to test its efficacy as a pulpotomy medicament.