Twenty Years Of Endodontic Success And Failure At West Virginia University

The ultimate goal of conventional root canal therapy is the retention of the treated tooth as a functional member of the masticatory system with healthy periapical and periodontal tissues. The dentist must reduce or eliminate toxic or irritating substances from within the root canals to levels within the physiologic limits of repair of each patient. Although root canal therapy has a high success rate, all cases are not successful, and practitioners must continue to examine their treatment resutls to eliminate any variables which can contribute to failure. An evaluation of treatment results during twenty-year period at the West Virginia University School of Denistry was conducted to calculate the success to failure ratio and to identify those variables which can affect the treatment prognosis. (Author).