Accuracy of electronic apex locators in primary teeth: a meta-analysis

Aim To conduct a meta‐analysis on the accuracy of electronic apex locators (EALs) in determining working length in human primary teeth. Methodology An electronic literature search was conducted using a combination of the terms ‘primary teeth’, ‘root canal length’ and ‘electronic apex locators’. Additional eligible articles were identified using a manual search. The full texts of identified articles were screened according to inclusion criteria. Results Overall, 19 studies met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to further data extraction. Meta‐analysis of studies that reported mean lengths and difference in mean lengths between EAL and actual root canal length (ARCL) revealed a significant difference (P = 0.015) between the two readings whilst those studies that evaluated intraclass correlation (ICC) suggested a high correlation (P