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Published on: July 12, 2022
Working length determination in general dental practice: a randomised controlled trial
F D Jarad1, S Albadri, C Gamble
1School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5PS, UK. f.jarad@liverpool.ac.uk
Objective:
To evaluate the ability of apex locators as a tool in determining working length in comparison to traditional working length radiographs in general dental practice.
Design:
Randomised controlled clinical trial.
Setting:
General dental practices in the North West of England.Subjects Adults requiring root canal treatment of at least one tooth with minimal or moderate difficulty.
Intervention:
Root canal treatment was carried out with the working length determined by apex locator in the treatment group (AL), and periapical radiograph in the control group (PA).
Outcome Measure:
The acceptability of the master cone gutta percha measured from a radiograph before obturation was used as the primary outcome.
Results:
Twenty-one of 23 fillings in the AL group were judged as acceptable, compared to 17 of 23 fillings in the PA group. This difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion:
In general dental practice, no significant difference was found in working length determined using apex locator combined with a master cone GP radiograph or using the conventional method. There is a need for larger trials to investigate these methods further.