Global and national prevalence of root canal dilacerations: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the prevalence of root canal dilaceration in Türkiye and the world. Additionally, the difference in the prevalence of root dilaceration between Türkiye and the world population has also been examined.
Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis was registered with the Open Science Framework (OSF) to ensure transparency and reproducibility of the research process (Registration DOI: https: //doi. org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5UBKA). Our study was conducted following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statements. The MeSH terms and keywords were used to search articles published in three electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. The search strategy was limited to English and Turkish articles published before 12 December 2024. In addition, the bibliographic references of the qualifying papers were manually searched. Data were collected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The included studies were assessed by two independent reviewers using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies.
Results: Forty-four observational studies are included in this meta-analysis. 35435 patients and 103948 teeth were examined in these studies. The overall prevalence of root dilaceration was 9.1% (95% CI=0.065-0.125) in patients and 2.3 % (95% CI=0.016-0.035) in teeth. We found the prevalence of root dilaceration to be 5.2% (95% CI=0.029-0.09) in Türkiye. There was no statistically significant difference between the prevalence in Türkiye and the world when comparing studies that assessed the number of patients with dilaceration (P=0.0545). However, there was a statistically significant difference when comparing studies that focused on the number of dilacerations of teeth (P=0.03).
Conclusion: Within the limitations of this meta-analysis, root dilaceration was observed in 9.3% of individuals and 3.1% of teeth globally, with a lower prevalence (5.2%) identified in Türkiye. Due to the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges posed by such teeth, accurate diagnosis and well-structured treatment approaches are essential. Further research utilizing standardized diagnostic criteria and including diverse population samples is needed to clarify the underlying causes and enhance clinical management strategies.

Keywords: Prevalence, root dilaceration, root morphology.