Working Length of Maxillary Primary First Molars in Children Aged 2-6 Years

Abstract

An accurate and reproducible working length determination is a crucial aspect in pulpectomy. The cleaning, shaping and obturation cannot be adept precisely unless the working length is determined accurately. The determination of precise working length is one of the keys to accomplishment in endodontic therapy. Thus the aim of the study was to compare the working length of each root canal obtained for primary maxillary first molars in children aged 2-6 years. A retrospective study was carried out using digital records of 1,372 children who reported to the Department of Paediatric and Preventive Dentistry from June 2019 to March 2020. A total of 380 records were finally included for the study evaluation, which included maxillary primary first molars (54,64) Patients between the age group of 2-6 years were included in the study. The following data were retrieved from the dental records: age, gender, working length of each canal and pulpal pathology. The records were examined and noted in a spreadsheet. The collected data were analysed by computer software SPSS version 21 using one-way Anova test with the level of significance set at 5%. The mean age was observed to be 4.14 years in the present study. The mean working length was found to be 9.82mm (MB canal), 9.79mm (DB canal), 13.28mm (Palatal canal) with respect to pulpal pathology such as pain, swelling, abscess and resorption (P = 0.00). The reported data may help clinicians to obtain a thorough understanding of the working length of the primary maxillary first molars.