Amalgam versus MTA as root-end filling materials in endodontic surgery: a long term longitudinal study

Amalgam versus MTA as root-end filling mate- rials in endodontic surgery: a long term longi- tudinal study Aim To compare the long-term outcomes of endodontic surgery with root-end fillings of amalgam or MTA. Methodology Two cohorts of consecutive patients (42 subjects 55 teeth- for amalgam and 136 subjects -181 teeth – for MTA) were followed for 13 years after endodontic surgery. All the surgeries were performed by the same operator with the same instruments and technique; the only difference was the filling material. The group treated with amalgam was treated from 1997 to 2002 and the group treated with MTA from 2002 to 2010. For each patient, recalls were scheduled at 3, 6 months, and then every year. During each recall, a radiographic ad clinical examination was performed. Two-tailed Fisher exact and v2 tests were used to compare outcomes between the two groups at each recall time (a = 0.05). Results No significant difference was observed between amalgam and MTA at each recall except at 6 m (P = 0.041). Only two unfavourable outcomes were observed with MTA (suc- cess = 98.9%) and three with amalgam (success = 94.5%) Conclusions Within the limitations of this study, clinical out- comes were comparable for cases managed with amalgam and MTA. A significant difference was detected only at 6 months, where the results for MTA were more favourable. The compliance of the patients to recall was low, with more than half of the subjects lost to follow up at each recall time.