Study of calcium hydroxide apexification in 26 young permanent incisors

This study was carried out in order to observe the effectiveness of apexification in young permanent incisors. The sample comprised 26 young permanent incisors with necrotic pulp and open apices. The time taken to obtain apical closure, its form and size were analysed in order to find out if closure was influenced by existing pathology or size of apex. The treated teeth were compared with their corresponding contralateral teeth. The test of McNemar and ANOVA was used and a result of P = 0.05 was considered significant. Teeth with pretreatment apical shapes that were convergent or parallel all resulted in physiological apical shapes after treatment. Eight teeth had divergent apical shapes before treatment. Of these, one had a physiological shape, five ended with rounded apices and two teeth had straight apices post-treatment. Apical closure was obtained in 100% of the cases studied, of these 88.4% needed three to four sessions of calcium hydroxide treatment (an average of 3.23 sessions) in order to obtain apical closure, the average time employed was 12.19 months. Clinical symptoms resolved in all teeth that presented with symptoms. Preoperative symptoms did not affect outcome. Pathology of the tooth before treatment does not influence the time needed to obtain apical closure.