Abstract:Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of two root canal therapies for chronic pulpitis.Methods A total of 102 patients with chronic pulpitis admitted to our hospital between January 2023 and February 2026 were randomly split into two groups of 51 cases each: the control group received multiple-visit root canal therapy, and the observation group single-visit root canal therapy. Clinical efficacy, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-8 (IL-8), Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) score, and visual analogue scale (VAS) score were compared before and after treatment. Adverse reactions were also recorded during treatment.Results The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group (P 0.05). The levels of TNF-α, CRP, and IL-8 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group after treatment (P 0.05); within each group, the levels of TNF-α, CRP, and IL-8 were lower after treatment than before treatment (P 0.05). The post-treatment scores of OHIP-14 and VAS in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P 0.05); within each group, the post-treatment scores of OHIP-14 and VAS were lower than the pre-treatment scores (P 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (P 0.05).Conclusion Single-visit root canal therapy achieves better clinical efficacy in chronic pulpitis. It reduces serum inflammatory factor levels more effectively, relieves pain, and improves oral health-related quality of life compared with multiple-visit root canal therapy.