C van der Merwe1 , PJ van der Vyver2, FS Botha3, FA de Wet4 In vitro evaluation of root canals obturated with four different techniques Part 1: Radiographic Evaluation
SADJ May 2012, Vol 67 no 4 p168 - p174
PJ van der Vyver1, C van der Merwe2, FS Botha3, FA de Wet4 In vitro evaluation of root canals obturated with four different techniques Part 2: Apical leakage
SADJ July 2012, Vol 67 no 6 p264 - p269
FS Botha1, C van der Merwe2 , PJ van der Vyver3, FA de Wet4 In vitro evaluation of root canals obturated with four different techniques.Part 3: Obturation of lateral canals
The metrics can range from a symptom-free patient who can function on the tooth or teeth, to complete formation of normal apical anatomy (based on limited input from a two-dimensional radiograph). The biggest problem appears to be long-term evaluation of all procedures performed…that means a 100% evaluation of patients treated over at least 4-year period, using exacting radiographic documentation and thorough subject and objective evaluation…avoiding practitioner bias This down not occur routinely and dilutes the information available. The articles provided above do not deal with these issues. The literature provides a vast amount of percentages of success or tooth retention…with a large amount of variables…and even though statistics are applied to these data, this does not mean that the findings are significant as there are many variable not accounted for. The best you can do is to provide quality root canal procedures using contemporary principles and follow you patients for as long as possible…view success as tooth retention and a content patient There is no magic bullet in this assessment. We all have failures and unless you are willing to assess your failures thoroughly you will never have a set of metrics to evaluate your outcomes in a unbiased and positive manner.