A Randomized Controlled Study of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate and Super Ethoxybenzoic Acid as Root-end Filling Materials in Endodontic Microsurgery: Long-term Outcomes

Introduction: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the long-term clinical outcome of endodontic microsurgery when mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and super ethoxybenzoic acid (Super EBA; Harry I. Bosworth, Skokie, IL) were used as root-end filling materials. Additionally, this study aimed to compare the clinical outcome of endodontic microsurgery at the 1-year follow-up with that at the 4-year follow-up. Methods: Two hundred sixty teeth were randomly assigned to either the MTA or Super EBA group in equal numbers using the minimization method. Endodontic microsurgery was performed according to the Yonsei protocol. The previous study of 192 teeth examined at the 1-year follow-up revealed a success rate of 95.6% for MTA and 93.1% for Super EBA. Patients were recalled 4 years after surgery, and treated teeth were classified as successes or failures with Molven's criteria. The Pearson chi-square test and the McNemar test were conducted to analyze and compare the success rates. Results: A total of 182 teeth were examined at the 4-year follow-up. The success rate was 91.6% for MTA and 89.9% for Super EBA. Statistical analysis of the success rate did not show any significant difference between the 2 materials (P = .8). The overall success rate at the 4-year follow-up was 89.5%, which was slightly lower compared with 94.3% at the 1-year follow-up. However, there was no significant difference between the follow-up periods (P = .063). Conclusions: This study identified no significant difference in the 4 year success rates of MTA and Super EBA as root-end filling materials in endodontic microsurgery. Additionally, compared with short-term outcomes, long-term follow-up outcomes were not significantly different.