Root fractures in permanent teeth: a clinical review.

A retrospective study of 22 root fractures in 21 patients was performed. Ten patients were less than 11 years of age, and boys were involved more often than girls. Ten patients had more than one injured tooth, but there was no case of alveolar fracture. Twenty-one of the teeth were upper central incisors. Only 11 teeth were seen within the first week, so that not all teeth were splinted and not all displaced teeth were repositioned. Long-term clinical and radiographic review showed that loss of vitality of the coronal pulp could not be reliably detected for at least 1 year. No tooth became abscessed or developed a sinus tract, and resorption of bone at the fracture line was observed in only one out of five non-vital teeth. Lack of displacement and placing of a splint increased the chances of the pulp remaining vital and healing of the fracture occurring with hard tissue. Sclerosis of the coronal pulp occurred mainly when healing was by connective tissue. The apical pulp always remained vital, and there was sclerosis of the apical pulp in almost every case.