(TC48) Guided Tissue Regeneration in Endodontic Periapical Surgeries: A Systematic Review

Abstract: Guided Tissue Regeneration (GTR) has been proposed in conjunction with endodontic periapical surgeries. Several studies have examined the combination of GTR and endodontic periapical surgeries to achieve osseous healing post-surgery. Studies examining the use of GTR in conjunction with periapical surgeries have reported varied outcomes, methods, follow-up protocols, and conclusions. The differences in the outcomes, protocols, and findings of existing studies provide an opportunity for the author to evaluate, compare, and assess the quality of existing studies by conducting a systematic review. The aim of this research project is to examine the use of guided tissue regeneration in conjunction with endodontic periapical surgeries. In the initial searching phase, an advanced search using PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase was performed. Using the following keywords: periapical surgery, apicoectomy, guided tissue regeneration, grafting materials, osseous healing, grafting in endodontics, the initial search yielded 478 studies. Secondary screening was performed to exclude duplicate studies and irrelevant literature. In the advanced phase, after applying our exclusion criteria (studies in languages other than English, studies on animals, in vitro literature, and irrelevant studies), our search result was narrowed down to 16 studies to be reviewed. Each article was then evaluated and summarized thoroughly for the next step. A flowchart was made to illustrate the process. The JBI Critical Appraisal scale was used to evaluate the quality of each study. Based on this review, there is no solid agreement that guided tissue regeneration significantly changes the outcome of endodontic surgeries.