The effect of Patient’s Race on the Outcome of Endodontic treatments: a pooled analysis of 1 year recall data from four Cone Beam Computed Tomography outcome studies

Abstract

ObjectivesThe aim of this pooled data analysis was to establish if there is an association between a patient’s race and the proportion of successful outcomes of endodontic treatments, and if so, what factors may determine this association.MethodologyData collected from four prospective clinical outcome studies were pooled. Patients were recalled 12 months after the completion of the treatment. Treatment outcome was determined by clinical findings and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) examination. Statistical analysis included the description of categorical and continuous variables and simple binary logistic regression models, Chi2 tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests.ResultsData from 301 patients were available, of which 43 were black (14.3%), 50 were non-black minority ethnic (NBME) (16.6%) and 208 white (69.1%). The risk of an unfavourable outcome was higher in teeth with short root canal fillings (OR=3.36; p=0.002), when a preoperative radiolucency was present (OR=2.59; p=0.019) and when an intra-operative root canal perforation was detected (OR=5.25; p=0.016).Multiple regression models showed that black (OR=2.28; p=0.05) and NBME patients (OR=3.07; p=0.008) had a higher risk of an unfavourable result compared to white patients. ConclusionsBlack and NBME patients had a significantly higher failure rate of root canal treatments compared to white patients, all other known pre, intra and post-operative risk factors for root canal treatment failure were present in similar proportions in BME and white patients.