Endodontic retreatment efficacy with and without solvents: A systematic review

This systematic review investigates the crucial need for solvent use in root canal retreatment, as it effectively removes filling materials, reduces apical debris extrusion, and alleviates postoperative pain, ultimately enhancing treatment success. The review aims to assess the success rates, compare outcomes, explore benefits and drawbacks, and identify subgroups where solvent use may be more effective during root canal retreatment.

The search was performed in PubMed Central, Scopus, Cochrane, LILAC, ScienceDirect, Google Search, Web of Science, and manually using the search items alone and in combination by means of PUBMED search builder. The studies were assessed for eligibility according to the eligibility criteria by two independent reviewers. Groups containing solvent with nonsolvent groups and randomized control trials were included and in vitro studies, retrospective studies, and animal studies were excluded from the study. Quality assessment was performed using the risk of bias (RoB) 2.0 tool.

Out of the 596 articles obtained, 14 were shortlisted for full-text reading and finally two articles were included in the study. The studies were assessed for quality, and data were extracted in a tabulated form. Overall RoB is low, but due to the lack of homogeneity, meta-analysis could not be conducted.

The use of solvent does not cause any significant difference in the postoperative pain levels or analgesic intake for retrieval of gutta-percha in cases of root canal retreatment. Due to the limited number of studies available and the lack of clinician-related outcomes such as time taken to retrieve the gutta-percha, these results should be taken into consideration with caution.