Oral Health-Related Quality of Life and Patient Satisfaction Following Non-surgical Endodontic Therapy With Different Root Canal Sealers: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Non-surgical endodontic therapy is primarily performed to eliminate pulpal infection, relieve pain, promote periapical healing, and preserve natural dentition.Patient-reported outcomes, including oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and satisfaction, provide a broader assessment of treatment effectiveness than clinical or radiographic outcomes alone.Evidence remains limited on sustained patientreported outcomes after root canal therapy (RCT) in Indian clinical settings, particularly when comparing different obturation sealers, as well as anxiety, satisfaction, and periapical healing.The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in OHRQoL and patient satisfaction following non-surgical endodontic therapy and compare outcomes among zinc oxide eugenol, Endomethasone N (Septodont Healthcare India Pvt. Ltd., Panvel, Maharashtra, India), and AH Plus (Dentsply Sirona Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina, United States) sealers.Methods: This was a double-blind, three-arm randomized clinical trial that included 180 adults requiring RCT.Participants were equally allocated into three treatment groups.Baseline and follow-up assessments included Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) scores, dental anxiety, patient satisfaction, and radiographic periapical outcomes over one year.Results: OHRQoL improved progressively following non-surgical endodontic therapy, with sustained improvements across functional, pain-related, psychological, and social domains.The mean age was 34.76 ± 11.61 years in male and 32.42 ± 8.79 years in female participants.Significant intergroup differences were reported for 13 of 14 OHIP-14 items during early follow-up, whereas taste disturbance remained nonsignificant (p=0.139 on Days 1 and 7; p=0.060 on Day 15).At six months and one year, significant intergroup differences were reported for all 14 OHIP-14 items.Dental anxiety differed significantly among the three groups for anticipated treatment on the following day (p=0.012)and waiting-room anxiety (p=0.011),but not for tooth drilling (p=0.060),scaling and polishing (p=0.080), or local anesthetic injection (p=0.631).Patient satisfaction remained high across all groups.No significant intergroup differences were observed in periapical status (p=0.435),retreatment requirements (p=0.619),tooth retention (p=0.086), or perceived treatment cost (p=0.054).Conclusion: Non-surgical endodontic therapy improved patient-centered outcomes, with no clinically dominant difference among the evaluated sealers.