Aim

The postendodontic periapical fibrosis is an asymptomatic radiolucent and non-progressive healing process that is often interpreted as a persistent pathological lesion. The diagnosis of this entity is usually uncertain, and it is only defined by the correlation of clinical, radiographic and histological observations.The aim of this report is to describe the case of a patient with a long-term persisting asymptomatic and radiolucent area in a upper lateral incisor.

Clinical case

Four years and two months after receiving an endodontic treatment the patient comes to our office for a routine control. Radiographic examination revealed the presence of a persistent well defined radiolucent area. Surgical tooth extraction was required due to the presence of a complicated root fracture.This allowed to perform a histological study of the soft tissue attached to the apex of the extracted root, which confirmed and completed the diagnosis of postendodontic periapical fibrosis.