OCCURRENCE OF TECHNICAL ERRORS IN ENDODONTICALLY TREATED TEETH: A RADIOLOGICAL STUDY

Aim. The aim of study was to assess the quality of root canal fillings and occurrence of various categories of technical errors in patients with endodontically treated teeth. Materials and method. The study group included 158 patients (gender: 56 males, 102 females; mean age 50.44 ± 13.469 yrs.) with 400 endodontically treated teeth. The endodontic treatments were considered poor when one or more of the next technical errors were noted on the orthopantomography and/or periapical radiography: length (short filling; overfilling); poor density; inadequate preparation; inadequate conicity; untreated root canals. Results. Only 21,5% of the endodontically treated teeth had root canal fillings without any technical error. 78,5% of the endodontically treated teeth had at least 1 root canal with poor endodontic treatments. AP prevalence in teeth with adequate root canal fillings was 16,3%, while teeth with at least one poor root canal filling had AP prevalence of 56,4%. According to sociodemographic parameters the distribution of poor root canal fillings was as follows: gender (males- 69,1%; females- 82,7%; age groups: 20-39 yrs.- 76,2%; 40-59 yrs.- 76,9%; ≥ 60 yrs.- 86,5%). According to location, the distribution of poor root canal fillings was as follows: Mx/Md: Mx- 75%; Md- 84,2%); dental groups: frontal- 76,3%; premolars- 73,1%; molars- 83,2%). Most technical errors were non-homogenous root canal fillings (64,8%), poor conicity (64,5%), short filling (56%). Conclusions. Considering all categories of technical errors in root canal filling, 78,5% of endodontically treated teeth had inadequate endodontic filling in at least one root canal. Apical periodontitis was found in 56,4% of teeth with poor root canal filling. The most frequent technical errors in endodontically treated teeth were inadequate conicity, non-homogenous root canal fillings and underfilled root canals.