Healing of 400 intra-alveolar root fractures. 2. Effect of treatment factors such as treatment delay, repositioning, splinting type and period and antibiotics

Abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by Dr Trevor Watts

Abstract

A few days' delay in treatment did not influence healing, and antibiotic use is questionable.

Main

Andreasen JO, Andreasen FM et al. Dent Traumatol 2004; 20: 203–211

The second part of this research study (which was described in the previous abstract) deals with the relationship between several further factors and healing of the root fractures. In respect of treatment delay, there was no difference between groups: <1 day led to hard tissue healing in 41 cases, periodontal ligament healing in 94 and pulpal necrosis in 46; respective figures for 1 day were 28,44 and 18 cases, for 2 days, 9, 13 and 9 cases, and for 3+ days, 12, 21 and 7 cases.

Optimal repositioning of fragments appeared to significantly optimise hard tissue healing and reduce pulpal necrosis, and there were some differences between different types of splinting, where this was employed. Splinting for more than four weeks did not influence the pattern of healing. There was a non-significant trend towards a negative effect of antibiotics on healing, which the authors suggest requires further study.