Influence of Endodontic Treatment and Corona! Restoration on Status of Periapical Tissues: A Cone-beam Computed Tomographic Study

Introduction: This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of apical radiolucency in 1290 root canal treated teeth and the correlation between endodontic treatment quality and the presence of coronal restorations with apical radiolucency using cone-beam computed tomographic imaging. Methods: Cone-beam, computed tomographic scans were analyzed, and teeth were classified as healthy or diseased according to the periapical status. Other factors were also evaluated for their association with the apical diagnosis including sex, quality of endodontic treatment, presence of corona] restorations and posts, and apical level of filling. Results: Of the treated teeth, 48.83% were classified as healthy. Only 55.11% of the teeth had endodontic treatment rated as adequate. The quality of endodontic treatment and the presence of coronal restoration were statistically correlated with the presence or absence of an apical radiolucency (P < .0001). Combined data revealed that teeth with both adequate endodontic treatment and the presence of coronal restoration showed significantly better apical status than the other combinations (P < .001). Canals filled up to 0-2 mm short of the apex had a significantly higher number of teeth rated as healthy compared with overfilled or underfilled cases (P = .001). The presence of a post was not found to be a statistical significant factor (P = .81). Conclusions: Data showed a relatively high prevalence of apical radiolucencies in root canal treated teeth. The quality of the endodontic treatment, the presence of corona] restoration, and apical extent of the root canal filling were significantly associated with healthy apical tissues.