Non‐surgical retreatment of teeth with persisting apical periodontitis following apicoectomy: decision making, treatment strategies and problems, and case reports

In the endodontic literature, only a few studies and case reports can be found demonstrating and further discussing non‐surgical treatment of failed apicoectomies. As a second apicoectomy has a limited success rate, non‐surgical retreatment should be discussed as an additional treatment option before extraction is considered. Depending on the reason for treatment failure or for persistence or development of apical periodontitis, and depending on the presence or absence and the type of retrofilling, treatment strategies need to be adapted to the specific clinical scenario. It is the aim of this review to describe a strategy for non‐surgical orthograde retreatment of previously apicected teeth with persisting apical periodontitis, to review the literature that may be helpful to discuss such cases, to develop an individual treatment plan, to discuss several specific aspects of treatment, and to present different clinical cases.