Apical third enlargement of the root canal and its relationship with the repair of periapical lesions.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate if the apical third enlargement of root canal is the determinant factor for the repair of periapical lesions in endodontic treatment.


METHODS
Eighty upper and lower incisors, canines and premolars with periapical lesions were randomly divided in 2 groups and were treated by undergraduate students. Canals were instrumented with up to 3 files in group I (n = 40) and up to 4 files in group II (n = 40) 1 mm short of the apex and were filled with a calcium hydroxide dressing. After removing calcium hydroxide 14 days later, both groups were filled using the lateral condensation technique. In the 2-year follow-up, a few patients did not return, and some cases did not present conditions for accurate comparisons. Therefore, only 43 patients (24 in group I and 19 in group II) presented conditions for radiographic comparisons. Data were statistically analyzed using Fisher's exact test.


RESULTS
Comparison of the initial and follow-up radiographs showed that 22 out of 24 (91.67%) patients in group I and 17 out of 19 patients (89.47%) in group II showed repair. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between the groups (P>.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study show that the apical third enlargement did not alter the outcome of endodontic treatment of teeth with periapical lesion performed by undergraduate students.
Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry of Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Bahia, BRAZIL.
Ronaldo Araújo
RA
Souza
João Costa Pinto
JC
Dantas
Paula Maciel
PM
Brandão
Suely
S
Colombo
Maurício
M
Lago
Marco Antônio Húngaro
MA
Duarte