Outcome of non-surgical root canal treatment related to periodontitis and chronic disease medication among adults in age group of 60 years or more.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of non-endodontic factors like periodontitis and chronic disease medication (CDM) mostly affecting elderly people's health on the outcome of non-surgical root canal treatment (NSRCT).

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of elderly people with high prevalence of marginal periodontitis and CDM benefit from adequate endodontic therapy, if irreversible pulpitis or apical periodontitis occurs. Only few data exist about the relevance of those non-endodontic factors on healing of endodontic lesions in a population 60 years or more.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Of 177 patients aged 60 years or more with 212 NSRCTs performed between the year of 2010 and 2013, complete documentation was available for 112 teeth in 93 participants. Mean time between baseline and last follow-up was 38.93 months. The primary endodontic factors studied were the periapical index (PAI) of periapical health, quality of the root canal filling and of coronal restoration, periodontal probing depth (PPD, mm) and tooth mobility (TM, 0-3). Secondary non-endodontic factors included the presence of marginal periodontitis and CDM, in particular antidiabetics, antihypertensives and anticoagulants. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square test statistics and logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: Periodontitis and CDM had no effect on endodontic outcome. Chronic intake of anticoagulants showed a significant association with endodontic outcome. Root-filled teeth with preoperative periapical lesions had a significantly higher rate of endodontic failure than those without preoperative lesion. The overall success rate of NSRCT was 87.1% with 81 healed teeth.

CONCLUSION: Periodontitis and CDM have no impact on the endodontic outcome of NSRCT in a population 60 years or more.