Periapical health related to the type of coronal restorations and quality of root canal fillings in a Turkish subpopulation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the quality of root canal fillings and type of permanent coronal restorations and their association with the periapical status in a Turkish subpopulation.

Study Design: There were 1268 endodontically treated teeth from 280 panoramic radiographs that were evaluated. Two observers assessed the radiographs using an x-ray viewer with 2 times magnification. Teeth were classified according to the type of restorations. The quality of root canal fillings were evaluated according to the criteria determined by Tronstad et al. Apical status was assessed by the Periapical Index scores (PAI) proposed by Ørstavik et al. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis.

Results: There were 59.5% of endodontically treated teeth that showed healthy periapex. Teeth with good endodontic treatment showed statistically significant high healthy periapex rates regardless of the type of the restoration. In addition, the evaluation of the entire material also showed that the roots with posts had significantly more periapical pathosis than roots without posts (P = .001).

Conclusions: It can be concluded that, although the quality of the root canal filling plays a key role in the outcome of endodontic therapy, the type of restoration can also be a contributing factor in the treatment outcome.