To date, few studies have been conducted to test the effectiveness of Carnoy's (CS) versus modified Carnoy's (MC) solution for preventing the recurrence of odontogenic keratocysts, which are potentially aggressive lesions. To evaluate the efficacy of MC application, we conducted a retrospective cohort study over an 18-year period, from October 2004 to October 2022, in 122 patients treated surgically with adjunctive chemical cautery, with either CS (n = 73; median age: 30 years) or MC (n = 49; median age: 42 years), by a single surgeon. The primary outcome variables were observed recurrence and interval to recurrence. Independent variables were demographics, location, clinical presentation at baseline, adjacent tooth extraction, and bone grafting. Males predominated in both groups. No statistically significant differences were observed between the two arms in terms of recurrences in particular months, with six patients (8.2%) in the CS arm and 5 (10.2%) in the MC arm. Of the 11 recurrences, 10 were observed within the first 2 years post-surgery, with only one occurring in the 7th year of follow-up. Thus, when used as adjunctive therapy, the application of MC has an efficiency comparable to that of CS for lowering the recurrence rate of odontogenic keratocysts.
Keywords: Carnoy’s solution; modified Carnoy’s solution; odontogenic cysts; odontogenic keratocyst; recurrence.