Prospective study of periapically infected teeth treated with periapical surgery including ultrasonic preparation and retrograde intermediate restorative material root-end fillings.

PURPOSE: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the current method of periapical surgery at the Maxillofacial Unit, Halmstad Hospital, which included ultrasonic root-end preparation and the use of intermediate restorative material as a root-end filling material. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-five consecutive patients with a total of 56 treated teeth, within the close vicinity of the hospital, were included in the study during a period of 10 months in 2002. Teeth with advanced periodontal bone loss or presence of root fractures were excluded from the study. RESULTS: All teeth but 1 were followed up after 1 year (12-19 months). Radiological evaluation (complete or incomplete healing) and clinical examination showed an 80% success rate. Twenty percent of the patients were stated as failures (uncertain healing and unsatisfactory healing). The success rate was highest among incisors (100%) and lowest among molars and premolars (78% and 69%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Compared with other studies, these findings seemed to be a bit inferior regarding success rate. However, our study population was not selected for the study purpose but rather represented the true clinical variety taken care of in our practice.