Objective: To investigate the effect of increasing the apical size of roots enlarged for root canal filling on the outcome of non-surgical endodontic treatment for teeth with apical periodontitis.
Methods: In this retrospective study, a total 210 cases of single-rooted canals treated were included at the dental units between October 2009 and January 2022. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard number of gutta-percha points used for root canal filling and the presence or absence of apical bone resorption on dental radiographs were analysed to evaluate the treatment outcome and analyzed by chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression model.
Results: The number of teeth with a root apical size of ≤50 and ≥55 were 158 and 52, respectively. For the teeth with a root apical size of ≤50, 144 (68.6%) had good prognoses and 14 (6.7%) had poor prognoses. For the teeth with a root apical size of ≥55, 28 (13.3%) teeth had good prognoses and 24 (11.4%) had poor prognoses (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: Unfavourable clinical outcomes were observed in root canal-filled teeth with an enlarged apical root size of ≥ 55. Thus, these sizes potentially indicate poor outcomes of nonsurgical endodontic treatments. (EEJ-2023-09-126)