Prevalence of Periapical Lesions Associated With Endodontically Treated Teeth of an Adult Syrian Subpopulation, and its Relation to the Quality of Root Canal Fillings

Background Objective: Purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of apical periodontitis in endodontically-- treated teeth in adult Syrian patients and to evaluate the influence of root canal fillings quality on the periapical status of these teeth. Methods Materials: Periapical status and root canal fillings quality of 784 endodontically –treated teeth of Syrian adult patients who attended Damascus dental school were evaluated using panoramic radiographs. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Overall, the prevalence of apical periodontitis (AP) in endodontically treated teeth was 33.4%. Only 18.5 % of teeth had endodontic treatments rated as adequate. Number of teeth with healthy periapex for cases with adequate endodontic treatment was 95.2%, which was significantly high when compared to teeth with inadequate treatment (66.6%). The highest percentage of inadequate root filling was found in the molar teeth and Mandibular incisors. Conclusion: Our results indicate high prevalence of AP in Syrian subpopulation associated with inadequate root canal filling.