When implant placement substitutes root canal treatment: Food for thought!

Abstract

In the near future, Endodontics will no longer be used to "save" teeth contaminated by bacteria and by-products. It will be increasingly indicated to repair damage caused by dental trauma, such as luxation, displacement, intrusion, extrusion, reimplantation, fracture of the crown and root, as well as internal and external root resorption. Endodontists will be more often required to perform apical endodontic surgery of teeth of which crown hampers canal, root perforation and injury treatment. Furthermore, they will consolidate their position as consultants in matters related to the dental pulp, periapical tissue, root resorption and dental trauma, all of which the endodontist should master. In the context of interdisciplinary relationships, Endodontics has been relocated as the specialty upholding all the others, the one which is no longer used as the last resource to "save" a tooth, but to strengthen teeth subjected to restoration and rehabilitation procedures. Osseointegrated implants satisfactorily replace nearly lost teeth of which prognosis are dubious or unsatisfactory. The era of therapeutic attempts is coming to an end in the field of Endodontics!