Surgical versus non-surgical endodontic retreatment for periradicular lesions

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

Scarce evidence when considering endodontic retreatment.

Main

Del Fabbro M, Taschieri S et al. Aust Dent J 2007; 52: 340–341

For those teeth that do not respond to endodontic treatment, there is a dilemma as to whether or not to repeat this or to carry out periradicular surgery. The authors only identified three randomised control studies (RCTs) of sufficient quality on which to base a decision. In the short term, healing rates were higher for surgical intervention. Only one RCT reported data for 4 years after re-treatment, and found there was no difference in outcome between the two treatment modalities. Both the original Cochrane Review and the commentary published in this journal conclude with the familiar mantra that there is a need for more well-designed RCTs.