Dental Practice and Oral Health

A periapical lesion is formed within an area of existing apical periodontitis, the foci of infection being the degenerating pulpal tissues within the root canal system. This pulpal degeneration is caused by the microbes that enter the pulp chamber from oral cavity. These periapical lesion regresses as soon as the microbial etiology present within the root canal is removed by nonsurgical root canal therapy. Mere surgical removal of the periapical lesion, without proper root canal disinfection and three dimensional obturations are not sufficient for its complete healing. Non-surgical endodontic treatment using triple antibiotic

paste (TAP) as intra-canal medicament to disinfect the root canal system followed by mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) for three dimensional obturations offers a high success rate in the healing of large periapical lesions. These clinical cases highlight the healing of large periapical lesions with conservative non-surgical endodontic treatment, followed-up over a period of 2-3 years.