Comparative study of the prevalence of radicular cysts and periapical granulomas in young and elderly adult patients referred to Isfahan dental school

Periapical diseases are the end result of untreated pulpitis and necrotic dental pulp. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the prevalence of radicular cysts and periapical granulomas in young adults and old patients referred to Oral Pathology department of Isfahan dental school.

In this cross-sectional study, all recorded samples with a diagnosis of radicular cyst and periapical granuloma were considered by the census method in a 14-year period from 2006 to 2019 in the archives of the Oral Pathology Department of Isfahan dental school. The data were extracted including age, gender, location of the lesion and histopathologicaldiagnosis. The prevalence of cases in terms of age range was classified into two groups of young adults (20-35 years) and older (over 50 years). Then, Chi-square test and t test were done using SPSS24 and P<0.05 was considered significant.

The results showed that 49.4% (430 cases) of lesions were observed in males and 50.5% (439 cases) in females. Of all lesions, 51% (444 samples) were periapical granulomas and 49% (426 samples) were radicular cysts. Chi square test showed a significant difference between the prevalence distribution of the two lesions based on gender. Radicluar cysts were more prevalent in males and periapical granulomas were more prevalent in females (P<0.001). According to t-test, there was no significant difference between the mean age of patients based on gender (P=0.176). The prevalence of lesions in the third and fourth decades of life was higher than in other decades. Also, in the third and eighth decades, the prevalence of periapical granulomas was higher than radicular cysts.

The prevalence of periapical cysts and dental granulomas were higher in young adults than in elderly patients.