Methods: A subset of a random sample of the male population of Northern Ireland, aged 60-70 yrs, who were taking part in a large epidemiological study were investigated. Each man had a clinical periodontal examination and endodontically treated teeth and apical radiolucencies were identified from orthopantomograms. Statistical analysis was by the t-test or Chi square analysis as appropriate.
Results: There were 55 RCT cases with two or more root treated teeth and 129 controls with no root treated teeth. The RCT cases had significantly more teeth 20.5 (SD 4.9) than the controls 18.5 (6.5), P=0.04. RCT cases had a significantly lower mean loss of periodontal attachment 2.1 (SD 0.9) mm than controls 2.5 (1.2) mm, P=0.049. A lower proportion (18%) of the RCT cases had periodontitis than the controls (25%), P=0.30. There were 44 men with two or more radiolucent apical areas (APPATH) and 127 controls with no evidence of apical radiolucency. The APPATH cases had more teeth 19.8 (SD 5.2) than controls with no apical radiolucency 18.7 (6.0), P=0.30. APPATH cases had a significantly higher mean loss of periodontal attachment 2.6 (SD 1.4) mm than controls 2.2 (0.9) mm, P=0.029. A higher proportion (30%) of the APPATH cases had periodontitis than controls (21%), P=0.26.
Conclusions: Men in Northern Ireland with multiple root treated teeth had better periodontal attachment levels than controls in contrast to those with multiple apical radiolucencies who had greater loss of periodontal attachment.