The Application of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Endodontology – An Update for the Clinician

The primary goal of endodontic intervention is to attain and preserve the health of the periapical tissues. Outcome measures have been incorporated into endodontics for decades to analyse whether this objective has been achieved, thereby documenting treatment effectiveness, evaluating patient care, and facilitating decision-making. The upsurge of evidence-based, patient-focused practices in endodontics has resulted in a shift in how we define the success of treatment. The importance of patient-reported measures has become more apparent in recent years, with the inclusion of PROs in outcome reporting. However, there remains a lack of consensus on a unifying criterion for endodontic outcomes, with clinicians, researchers, and patients all contributing differing ideas of what constitutes success. The goal of this review is to explore the current use of PROs in endodontology, establish the potential value of including these measures in future endodontic care and research and to examine the necessary prerequisites for their adoption into a core outcome set for endodontics.