Clinical and radiographic assessment of various predictors for healing outcome 1 year after periapical surgery

This clinical study prospectively evaluated the influence of various predictors on healing outcome 1 year after periapical surgery. The study cohort included 194 teeth in an equal number of patients. Three teeth were lost for the follow-up (1.5% drop-out rate). Clinical and radiographic measures were used to determine the healing outcome. For statistical analysis, results were dichotomized (healed versus nonhealed). The overall success rate was 83.8% (healed cases). The only individual predictors to prove significant for the outcome were pain at initial examination (p = 0.030) and other clinical signs or symptoms at initial examination (p = 0.042), meaning that such teeth had lower healing rates 1 year after periapical surgery compared with teeth without such signs or symptoms. Logistic regression revealed that pain at initial examination (odds ratio = 2.59, confidence interval = 1.2-5.6, p = 0.04) was the only predictor reaching significance. Several predictors almost reached statistical significance: lesion size (p = 0,06), retrofilling material (p = 0.06), and postoperative healing course (p = 0.06).