Variations in the presenting and treatment features in reimplanted permanent incisors in children and their effect on the prevalence of root resorption

Objective To examine variations in the presentation and treatment of reimpl anted incisors in children and to determine the effect of these on the prev alence of external root resorption. Setting Departments of Paediatric Dentistry, Belfast and Newcastle upon Tyn e. Design Recording of the timing of the injury and the storage mediums (inclu ding air) and of reimplantation, the stage of root development, the degree of contamination and the time of commencement of root treatment. Cases were reviewed clinically and radiographically at intervals of 3 months. Root re sorption was classified as present or absent. Logistic regression and cross -tabulations were produced with the presence of resorption set as the outco me. Results 128 reimplanted permanent incisor teeth, their median dry time prio r to reimplantation being 15 minutes (range 4-52 mins), the median time in a liquid medium being 45 minutes (range 0-650 mins), with a median splintin g time of 15 days (range 4-52 days) and a median pulp extirpation time of 1 5 days (range 0-612 days). There was a lower prevalence of resorption when the period of dryness was less than or equal to 5 minutes (p=0.025), The pr evalence of resorption in teeth with no visible contamination was 57.1%, fo r those with contamination which were washed dean it was 75%, in those rubb ed dean it was 87.5%, and it was 100% for those reimplanted with visible co ntamination still present (p=0.014). The corrected odds ratio for contamina tion was 2.99 and for an extension of 10 minutes of dryness it was 1.29. Conclusion The degree of contamination and the period of dryness were the m ajor risk factors for resorption in this study of reimplanted teeth in chil dren.