Estudo da prevalência de periodontite apical numa população adulta portuguesa

Abstract

ObjectivesThe aim of this cross-sectional study was to quantify and analyse the prevalence of periapical lesions according to the periapical index of Ørstavik (PAI) in patients from first consultations at Dentistry Area of FMUC/HUC. MethodsFrom 856 patients, 157 were selected during the first consultations at the Dentistry Area of FMUC/HUC between the 1st of January and the 30th of April, 2011, with the following inclusion criteria: age over 18 years, panoramic radiography updated, more than 8 tooth in mouth and signed informed consent. For oral examination we used a complete dental kit. The teeth with endodontic treatment (ET) were subject to periapical radiographs and evaluated with the PAI index and quality of root canal filling. ResultsThe prevalence of apical periodontitis (AP) in the sample was 4.4%. The prevalence of AP in endodontically treated teeth was 29.6%, and when the root was the common denominator, the prevalence of AP was 29.3%, whereby the success rate was 70.7% for roots with ET. The prevalence of AP in the sample of 4 204 teeth was 4.4%. ConclusionsThe results express the timely detection of periapical lesions, given that the PAI more prevalent in roots without ET is PAI=3. The prevalence of teeth with ET of 31%, was lower than expected, compared with reference publications from countries with similar level of success rate, 70.4%, which may indicate the possibility of our dental care to evolve towards more conservative therapies.