Successful Nonsurgical Management of Periapical Lesions of Endodontic Origin: A Conservative Orthograde Approach

Periapical lesions of endodontic origin are common pathological conditions affecting periradicular tissues. Microbial infection of pulpal tissues is primarily responsible for initiation and progression of apical periodontitis. The primary objective of endodontic therapy should be to restore involved teeth to a state of normalcy nonsurgically. Different nonsurgical management techniques, namely, conservative root canal therapy, decompression technique, method using calcium hydroxide, aspiration-irrigation technique, lesion sterilization and tissue repair therapy, active nonsurgical decompression technique, and the apexum procedure have been advocated. New techniques which use drug-loaded injectable scaffolds, simvastatin, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate have been tried. Surgical option should be considered when intra- or extra-radicular infections are persistent. Incidence of nonendodontic periapical lesions has also been reported. An accurate diagnosis of the periapical lesion whether it is of endodontic or nonendodontic origin has to be made. Surgical methods have many disadvantages, and hence should be considered as an option only in the case of failure of nonsurgical techniques. Assessment of healing of periapical lesions has to be done periodically which necessitates a long-term follow-up. Even large periapical lesions and retreatment cases where the lesion is of endodontic origin have been successfully managed nonsurgically with orthograde endodontic therapy.