Ask Gordon: What are the main reasons for endodontic failure?

Comment

Comment by Richard J Reinitz on January 24, 2012 at 10:36am

As a practicing dentist with nearly 30 years of experience, I can tell that my practice does not experience any where near the 20% figure cited by Dr. Christensen. However, I believe the reasons for my success has to do with the excellent training offered by Dr. Ruddle. Anecdotally, I see a high degree of failure with thermafil systems which are being used improperly and thus resulting in debris being left in the canals.  Secondarily, the lack of anatomic knowledge and the lack of use of magnification resulting in missed canals, also contributes to failures.  My failure rate is actually lower than the rate cited by Dr. Christensen for endodontists.  The answer is training, ethics and experience which in dentistry is actually always the answer.