Frequency of root-filled teeth and prevalence of apical periodontitis in an adult Turkish population

Aim To report the frequency and distribution of root-filled teeth as well as the prevalence of apical periodontitis in an adult population in Turkey. Summary Digital panoramic radiographs of 1000 patients who were examined at the Baskent University Faculty of Dentistry between December 2004 and May 2005 were evaluated. Patients ageing < 15 years and those with less than nine remaining teeth were excluded. The coronal and periapical status of all the teeth with the exception of third molars was examined according to the criteria proposed by De Moor et al. (2000). Statistical analysis was performed with the Rao and Scott adjusted chi-square test for the comparison of clustered binary data. In all, 24 433 teeth were examined. A total of 346 teeth (1.4%) had radiographic signs of apical periodontitis, and 812 were root filled (3.3%). Of the 812 root-filled teeth, 148 (18.2%) had apical periodontitis. Of the 23 621 nonroot-filled teeth, 198 (0.8%) had apical periodontitis. The number of root-filled teeth in male subjects was significantly less than that in female subjects (P < 0.001), but the presence of apical periodontitis in male subjects was significantly higher than that in female subjects (P < 0.05). Key learning points The prevalence of apical periodontitis and the frequency of root-filled teeth with apical periodontitis were lower than in comparable populations in other countries. The number of root-filled teeth was comparable to that found in other epidemiologic studies.