Periapical and Endodontic Status of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Age‐ and Sex‐ matched Case‐control Study

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are two chronic recurrent inflammatory processes of the gastrointestinal tract, grouped under the name Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), causing clinical episodes of intestinal inflammation. This study aimed to investigate the possible association between IBD and the prevalence of apical periodontitis and root canal treatment. A case‐control study design matched to age and sex was used. In the CG, only 17 subjects (61%) had at least one tooth with AP, while in the SG group they were 23 patients (82%) (OR = 2.98; CI 95% = 0.87 – 10.87; p = 0.08). The number of subjects with one or more root filled teeth (RFT) in the CG was 14 (50%), while in the SG they were 22 (79%) (OR = 3.67; 95% CI = 1.14 ‐ 11.79; p = 0.026). At least one RFT with AP was evident in 3 subjects (10.7%) in the control group, while in the study group 15 patients (53.6%) showed RFT with AP (OR = 9.60; 95% CI = 2.35 – 39.35; p = 0.001). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, only endodontic status was found to be associated with IBD (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.24 – 2.80; p = 0.003). IBD, ulcerative colitis and Crohn´s disease, is associated with higher prevalence of RFT and a higher percentage of RFT with periapical lesions. Dentists should consider these findings when caring for IBD patients by monitoring the evolution of periapical lesions of endodontically treated teeth.