Influence of Diabetes in the Development of Apical Periodontitis: A Critical Literature Review of Human Studies

Introduction: The aim of this study was to perform a critical review of the literature that investigated the association between diabetes and apical periodontitis.

Methods: An electronic search was performed on PubMed/MEDLINE, LILACS, Scientific Electronic Library Online (Scielo), and Cochrane Collaboration databases. Human studies assessing the effect of diabetes in apical periodontitis development or in healing after root canal treatment were included. The outcome was apical periodontitis.

Results and conclusions: Nine articles were included. The results presented in the literature to date are still scarce and incipient, and the evidence for such an association is not yet conclusive. However, the published results trend to converge on a positive association between diabetes and a larger number of periapical lesions.