Socio‐economic and health status as a predictor of apical periodontitis in adult patients in Croatia

Abstract

Objective A few studies focused on determinants of apical periodontitis other than technical or biological factors. This research aimed to investigate to what extent socio‐economic and health status can predict apical periodontitis in adult patients. Subjects and Methods The cross‐sectional study included 599 adult patients. Medical history, health habits and socio‐economic status of each participant were recorded using a self‐administered structured questionnaire. For caries detection, the World Health Organization diagnostic thresholds were used, and oral hygiene level was estimated using plaque index. Periapical index system was used to analyse the periapical status of all teeth. Dental, socio‐economic and health‐related variables were tested against dependent variable (periapical disease ratio) in a multiple linear regression analysis. Results Dental independent variables explained 71.7% of the observed variation in periapical disease ratio (R2 = 0.717; p < 0.001). Periapical disease ratio increased with the increase in number of carious teeth, plaque index and number of root‐filled teeth, but also with decrease in number of coronal fillings (all p < 0.001). Socio‐economic and health‐related variables accounted for lower portion of variability, 15.5% and 12.9%, respectively (both p < 0.001). Conclusions Dental variables are more important predictors of periapical status than socio‐economic and health‐related variables.

Prevalence of apical periodontitis in patients with autoimmune diseases: A case‐control study

“…The older the patient, the greater the likelihood of being affected by AP in a tooth. This is also consistent with earlier observations (Alrahabi & Younes, 2016;Kielbassa et al, 2017;Persic Bukmir et al, 2019).…”

Impact of systemic health on treatment outcomes in endodontics

“…The scientific literature contains conflicting evidence relating smoking habits and AP or RCT (Aminoshariae et al, 2020; Duncan & Pitt Ford, 2006; Segura‐Egea et al, 2015; Walter, Rodriguez, et al, 2012). There are many studies that have found a significant association between smoking and the prevalence of periapical lesions of endodontic origin (Aleksejuniene et al, 2000; Doyle et al, 2007; Kirkevang et al, 2007, 2017; Kirkevang & Wenzel, 2003; Krall et al, 2006; López‐López et al, 2012; Oginni et al, 2015; Persic Bukmir et al, 2019; Segura‐Egea et al, 2008, 2011). A systematic review concluded that smokers have a prevalence of AP and RCT that is greater than 2.5 times higher than nonsmokers (Pinto et al, 2020).…”

“…RCT has been shown to be almost two times more prevalent in smokers, with a dose-response relationship (Krall et al, 2006). However, other studies found no association between smoking and the prevalence of AP (Bergström et al, 2004;Frisk & Hakeberg, 2006;Rodriguez et al, 2013) or the frequency of RCT (Bergström et al, 2004;Persic Bukmir et al, 2019).…”

Evolution of endodontic medicine: a critical narrative review of the interrelationship between endodontics and systemic pathological conditions

“…Consequently, periapical bone destruction could be greater in smokers, altering periapical repair after root canal treatment, increasing the number and/or size of periapical lesions [20]. Table 4 summarizes the characteristics and main findings of clinical studies that assessed the association between endodontic parameters and smoking habits [128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140].…”

“…The scientific evidence relating smoking habits and AP or root canal treatment is conflicting [20,141,142]. Although some studies have found no association between smoking and the prevalence of AP [128,[138][139][140], several other studies have reported significant association between smoking and the prevalence of AP [128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137]. Two retrospective studies have found that RCT in smokers had fewer successes and more failures than in non-smoker patients [140,143].…”