A comparison of apical root resorption during orthodontic treatment in endodontically treated and vital teeth.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether vital and endodontically treated incisors exhibit a similar severity of apical root resorption in response to orthodontic treatment. Forty-three patients who had one or more endodontically treated incisors before orthodontic treatment and who exhibited signs of apical root resorption after treatment were studied. In each patient the vital contralateral incisor served as a control. Vital incisors resorbed to a significantly greater degree than endodontically treated incisors (p less than or equal to 0.05). When patients were separated by gender, control teeth in males exhibited a statistically significant increase in resorption over control teeth in females. No significant differences were apparent between males and females when endodontically treated incisors were compared.