Mello 2018.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT, parallel groups Duration of study: 4–6 months (mean 5 months) Setting: secondary care (University), Brazil
Participants	44 children, 62 primary teeth Age: 5–9 years Inclusion criteria: deep carious primary molars (> 2/3 into dentine); without sensitivity or spontaneous pain (or both) or pulp exposure, tooth mobility, fistula or abscess, pulp or root pathologies observed on radiograph; or root resorption of > 2/3 on radiograph; and tooth with restorative possibility Exclusion criteria: children with systemic diseases, allergy to latex or local anaesthetic
Interventions	2 treatment arms Group 1 (24 teeth): SE: infected dentin was removed, while the affected dentin was maintained on the pulpal wall. Group 2 (38 teeth): non‐selective caries removal: both infected and affected dentin removed.
Outcomes	Primary outcome Signs or symptoms of pulpal disease: pain, clinical or radiological loss of vitality, mobility, root resorption, etc. Clinically/radiographically success/failure after 6 months Secondary outcome Pulp exposure during excavation
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Authors did not report method of random allocation to treatment groups.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Allocation concealment not reported.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Single operator performed both treatments. Blinding of dentist not possible due to differences in techniques.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Blinding not possible for the outcome of pulp exposure as the operator assessed it during treatment. Clinical and radiological examination blinded.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	All teeth included in analysis.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All expected outcomes reported.
Other bias	Low risk	No other biases detected.