Abstract: Abstract: Objective This meta-analysis was to compare the effectiveness of mineral trioxide aggregate(MTA) and calcium hydroxide (CH) as direct pulp capping materials in human permanent teeth which exposed pulps by cariously. Methods A search of literatures about clinical efficacy of MTA versus CH in direct pulp capping in Pubmed, Embase, CMCC, CNKI, VIP, Wanfang databases was conducted from inception to July 15th,2015 . The quality of included studies was stringently evaluated and data were analyzed by the RevMan 5.3 software．Results After selection, 9 studies were included. There was no significant heterogeneity between studies. A fixed-effects model was used. The MTA treatment groups showed a significantly higher success rate compared with CH-capped groups (odds ratio [OR] = 3.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.54–5.26; P ＜0 .00001). Conclusions MTA has a higher success rate than CH. MTA appears to be a suitable replacement of CH used for direct pulp capping.

Key words: Key words: mineral trioxide aggregate, calcium hydroxide, direct pulp capping, meta-analysis