HIROSHI ISHII,D.D.S. | What is Endodontic Treatment?

Treatment provided by endodontists can be divided into the following categories:

1.Vital Pulp Therapy	Treatment the purpose of which is to preserve all or part of the pulp tissue.
2.Root Canal Treatment (Vital Teeth)	Treatment the purpose of which is to remove all pulp tissue to prevent the spread of bacterial infection.
3.Root Canal Treatment (Necrotic Teeth)	Treatment the purpose of which is to eliminate emerging bacterial infection form the space previously occupied by pulp tissue.
4.Root Canal Retreatment	Treatment to deal with teeth that have previously undergone root canal treatment but have become infected.
5.Endodontic Surgery	Surgical procedure performed in cases where successful treatment root canal treatment is difficult.
6.Trauma	Procedure performed in cases where teeth have suffered luxation or subluxation due, for example, to accidents.

Fig. 1

Surgical Operating Microscope

While generally, the term "root canal treatment" is used to refer to cases 2 ~ 4 above, this term originates from the fact the treatment mainly targets the fine canals (i.e. root canals) that support the root of the tooth as shown in Fig. 1. A fine needle-like instrument and surgical operating microscope are used to carefully remove pulp tissue, bacteria and old filling material from the root canal. As shown in the illustration, the root canal structure is complex, making the removal of infectious substances an extremely difficult procedure.

The provision of high-quality root canal treatment using high-quality restorative materials at stages 2 (Root Canal Treatment (Vital Teeth)) and 3 (Root Canal Treatment (Necrotic Teeth)) almost completely eliminates the likelihood of having to undergo stage 4 (Root Canal Retreatment) and 5 (Endodontic Surgery) procedures.

HIROSHI ISHII,D.D.S. NREG Ginza Building B1,7-13-5 Ginza Chuo-ku,Tokyo, Japan 104-0061 TEL/FAX 03-3543-8757