Endodontia

The term endodontia refers to that branch of dentistry concerned with therapies of the endodontium, that is, the space inside the tooth containing the dental pulp.

Endodontic therapy is used whenever a lesion (due to caries or to trauma) has brought about an irreversible alteration in the pulp tissue, extending to pulp necrosis. Endodontic therapy comprises various stages:

• accessing the pulp chamber
• shaping using mechanical hand-held endodontic implements, root-canal cleansing
• three-dimensional sealing of all of the canal structures using a thermoplastic rubber (gutta-percha) using cold lateral condensation and hot vertical condensation techniques
• x-ray monitoring