Epidemiology of post‐treatment disease

Endodontic treatment aims to eliminate or prevent diseases of the pulp and the apical periodontium. Although several strategies have been developed to combat pulpal and periapical inflammation and infection, success rates in endodontics still seem to range considerably below 100%. A critical review of epidemiological studies demonstrates that post‐treatment endodontic disease needs to be acknowledged as a common outcome of endodontic treatment. The following review presents the data of available epidemiological studies from different continents and countries. The overall prevalence of post‐endodontic apical lesions ranges clearly higher than the failure rates obtained from well‐designed clinical studies demonstrating severe deficits in endodontic treatment in daily general dental practice.