ENDODONTIC TREATMENT AND REQUIREMENT
Endodontics is also known as Root Canal Treatment (RCT) or Root Canal Therapy also RCT.
Endo is a Greek word which means INSIDE while Odont is a Greek word which means TOOTH.
Therefore, endodontic treatment deals with inside part of the tooth which is mainly the pulp the softest part of the tooth tissue.
The pulp is a vital soft tissue found under the dentin, the dentin itself is found under the most hardest tissue in the human body which is the enamel. The pulp extends from the crown of the tooth to the tip of the root where it connects to the tissue surrounding to the root.
It houses blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue.
Once a tooth is fully developed, it can survive without the pulp after undergoing endodontic treatment because the tooth is being nourished by the tissues surrounding it.
In a simple term, endodontic is a branch of dentistry that concerns the study of diagnosis treatment (therapy), prognosis and prevention of diseases of the pulp and periapical tissues.
Periapical means before apical foramen of the root through which the blood vessels, nerves and connective tissues enters to the pulp of the tooth from the radicular region.
OBJECTIVE OF ENDODONTIC TREATMENT
1- Relief of pain and disorder. That is, to allow symptom free tooth
2- To make the affected tooth biologically acceptable and active
without any form of diagnosable compromise or pathological disorder
3- To allow for removal of affected completely compromised pulp from root(s) of the tooth followed by obturation with inert material such as gutta percha.
4- Disinfection and making germ-free of roots and surrounding bone
5- To serve as an attempt to retain a tooth which should have been otherwise extracted
INDICATION FOR ENDODONTIC TREATMENT
1- A teeth with pulpal and or periapical pathological problems which is the main reason for endodontic therapy.
2- Also, a teeth with no pulpal or periapical pathological disorder may also require endodontic treatment due to the followings reasons:
a- The requirement for post and core construction so to cover and replace the missing coronal or part of a tooth
b- Traumatic exposure of the pulp due to surgery or fracture
c- Incomplete or poor calcification of the surrounding tissues that occupy the pulp chamber and root canal
d- Disordered internal resorption
e- Esthetic need and requirement
f- Teeth required in the mouth to support overlay prosthetic denture
g- Over erupted and mesially migrated tooth where the shortening of crown may lead to pulp exposure
In our next lecture we are going to discuss about contraindication for endodontic therapy and phases of endodontic treatment
Questions are welcomed if you get some so as to assess your understanding