Long-term outcome of the cases classified as successes based on short-term follow-up in endodontic microsurgery

Introduction: In a previous study, we evaluated the outcomes of endodontic microsurgery by comparing the healing success of cases involving a lesion of endodontic origin with cases involving a lesion of combined endodontic- periodontal origin. Of the 188 teeth over the 5-year period, 172 (91.5%) were considered to be successes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes, up to 10 years, of the cases that were classified as successes in the previous study. Methods: The 172 cases that were considered to have successful outcomes in the previous study were included. Patients were followed up every 6 months for 2 years and every year up to 10 years. On every follow-up visit, clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed according to the same criteria as in the original study by the same 2 examiners. Results: A follow-up rate of 60.5% (104/172 cases) was obtained. Of the 104 followed-up cases, 97 cases were included in the successful group, 91 with complete healing and 6 with incomplete healing. The overall maintained success rate was 93.3%. The failure group, which meant a reversal to disease, included 7 cases with unsatisfactory healing. Conclusions: In this study, 93.3% of endodontic microsurgery cases that were considered healed in a prior 5-year study remained healed after more than 6 years.