Management of teeth with dens invaginatus and apical periodontitis: A case series.

BACKGROUND: Dens invaginatus is a dental anomaly that can predispose the tooth to pulp and periapical pathology. CASE DESCRIPTION: Different endodontists treated 6 maxillary incisors with dens invaginatus associated with apical periodontitis. Cone-beam computed tomography was used to help with diagnosis and treatment planning in most patients. Four patients received diagnoses of Oehlers type II dens invaginatus and the other 2 as type III. In some patients with type II, the invagination had to be perforated to permit access to the apical part of the true root canal. Both the true canal and the invagination (pseudocanal) were treated in all cases using an antimicrobial regimen based on chemomechanical preparation with sodium hypochlorite irrigation and supplementary disinfection approaches. Calcium hydroxide medication was used in all but 1 case. The root canal and invagination were often filled using thermoplasticized gutta-percha techniques, sometimes using an apical plug with a bioceramic material in teeth with large apical openings. All treated patients had favorable clinical and radiographic outcomes. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Regardless of the complex anatomic variations, common strategic therapeutic approaches were identified that might serve as recommendations for proper management of teeth with dens invaginatus and apical periodontitis. These approaches include cone-beam computed tomographic planning, aggressive disinfection using sodium hypochlorite ultrasonic or sonic activation and calcium hydroxide intracanal medication, and thermoplasticized gutta-percha obturation of both the root canal and invagination.

Effects of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy and surgical endodontic treatment on the bacterial load reduction and periapical lesion healing. Three years follow up.

Besides the advances in endodontics, there are situations in which surgery is necessary to retain a tooth that otherwise would be extracted. This study analyzes the microbial reduction after conventional periapical surgery followed by antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) in 3 years follows up. Twenty-eight teeth needing periapical surgery were enrolled in this study. Microbiological samples were taken after: (1) accessing the lesion, (2) surgical procedure, and (3) aPDT. The teeth received a full mucoperiosteal flap, osteotomy with a high-speed bur, manual curettage of lesion and of the root, root-end resection and retrograde cavities prepared using ultrasonic retro-tips. After the conventional procedure the cavities received an aqueous solution of methylene blue (60 µM, 3 min) and were irradiated with a diode laser λ=660 nm (6 min, 15 J). After aPDT, a retrograde filling with mineral trioxide aggregate, flap re-positioning, and sutures conventionally ended the procedure. In all the cases, a periapical X-ray exam was taken before and after the surgical procedure. The microbiological samples showed an overall significant reduction, surgical procedure achieved a mean reduction of about 3.5 log while aPDT achieved a 5 log reduction. After 36 months of follow up the patients had, in average a reduction of 78% of the periapical lesion area. It appears that surgical endodontic treatment associated with antimicrobial photodynamic therapy highly improves the microbial reduction compared to the traditional technique and this could directly affect the treatment prognosis and periapical lesion healing.