Healing of Apical Periodontitis after Nonsurgical Root Canal Treatment: The Role of Statin Intake
Journal of Endodontics
Highlights
- •In this longitudinal clinical study, healing of preoperative apical periodontitis was evaluated in patients on statins and control patients.
- •The study controlled for the following confounding variables: age, sex, length of time to evaluation, statin agent, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
- •A multivariate analysis showed a significant association between healing and the intake of statins (P < .05).
Abstract
Introduction
Numerous
previously undocumented factors may influence the healing of apical
periodontitis (AP). The aim of this cohort study was to analyze the
association between statin medication intake during the follow-up period
and healing of AP.
Methods
Patients
who self-reported being on statins during nonsurgical root canal
treatment or retreatment and patients who reported never taking statins
were included. All patients who received treatment on a tooth with
periapical radiolucency in the postgraduate endodontics clinic at the
University of Maryland School of Dentistry (2011–2014) were invited for
follow-up 2 to 5 years after treatment. Healing was determined using the
periapical index (PAI). Two calibrated endodontists assessed outcomes
blinded to the statin intake. The association of statin intake and
healing of endodontic treatment (ie, healed [PAI 1–2]/not healed [PAI
3–5]) was analyzed using the Fisher exact test. Logistic regression
analysis was used to explore the association between statin intake and
treatment outcome, controlling for the following confounding variables:
diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and smoking, with confidence
intervals set at 95%.
Results
A
total of 60 cases were involved in the final analysis, including 30
patients taking statins and 30 patients not taking statins as the
control. The Fisher exact test showed significantly higher healing at
the 2-year or greater follow-up in patients taking statins compared with
controls (93.0% vs 70%; Fisher exact test, P = .02).
Conclusions
The
results of this study show a significant association between long-term
statin intake and healing of AP after nonsurgical root canal treatment.
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