Quality of life of patients with endodontically treated teeth: A systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review aimed to appraise the quality of life of patients with restored endodontically treated teeth. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were employed. The specific PEO question was as follows: population: patients who were healthy individuals ≥18 years old and required endodontic treatment; exposure: endodontic treatment with a coronal restoration with at least 6 months in occlusal function; and outcome: quality of life of patients. Databases were searched in conjunction with hand searching of reference lists of endodontic textbooks, endodontic-related journals, and relevant articles from electronic searching. Six articles met the inclusion criteria. Most studies concluded that non-surgical root canal therapy improved patients’ quality of life. The effect of operator type yielded conflicting results. Only one paper compared endodontic treatment with implant placement, and it showed similar patient-centric outcome with a high level of patient satisfaction. Current research is still limited, and further studies are warranted.