[Difficulty assessment of root canal therapy in Chinese permanent maxillary anterior teeth].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the difficulty of root canal therapy in Chinese permanent maxillary anterior teeth by radiographic methods in vitro.


METHODS
80 maxillary anterior teeth including 27 maxillary central incisors, 22 maxillary lateral incisors and 31 maxillary canines were collected and X-rayed in 3 individual directions: labiopalatal projection, mesiodistal projection and the maximal angle shot. Three anatomic risk factors: root curvature, calcification and working length of root canal therapy were assessed by difficulty assessment standards and criterions. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze the data.


RESULTS
The results showed that the root canal therapy of 2 and 3 were significantly more difficult than 1, P < 0.05; while there was no significant difference between 2 and 3, P > 0.05. In 1, the results of difficulty assessment of root canal therapy were significantly different among 3 individual X-rays which were projected from 3 different directions (P < 0.05). The difficulty caused by root curvature was significantly greater than calcification and working length in labiopalatal X-ray in 1 (P < 0.05) and 2 (P < 0.01), while there was no significant difference among these 3 risk factors in 3 in labiopalatal projection (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the labiopalatal X-rays can be safely regarded as the reliable projection shot for difficulty assessment before endodontic procedures. Root curvature was by far the most important risk factor that affected the difficulty of root canal therapy in 1 and 2 while root curvature, calcification and working length played the same roles in root canal therapy of 3.
Gao
Xiao-Jie
XJ
Department of Conservative Dentistry, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
Huang
Ding-Ming
DM
Tan
Hong
H
Jia
Liu-He
LH
Zhou
Xue-Dong
XD
Zheng
Guang-Ning
GN
D002681:China; D003481:Cuspid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003729:Dental Care; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008437:Maxilla / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012390:Root Canal Therapy