Follow-up study of apicectomised anterior teeth.

A retrospective study was carried out on anterior teeth which had undergone apicectomy between 1995 and 1997. More maxillary teeth were treated (94.7%) than mandibular teeth (5.3%). Radicular cyst was the most frequently diagnosed reason for the treatment (47.3%), followed by chronic apical infection/granuloma (44.0%). The overall success rate was 71.9%, while treatment outcome was doubtful in 14.0% of the apicectomised teeth. The presence of pre- or postoperative signs and symptoms did not have any statistically significant effect on the treatment outcome. A higher percentage of roots with retrograde amalgam fillings healed successfully than roots with orthograde fillings, but the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). More lesions classified histopathologically as radicular cysts healed successfully than those classified as granulomas (Fisher exact test, 2-tailed P value = 1.0).