A documentation of healing of overfilled cases in teeth with lesions of endodontic origin following treatment utilizing the BU endodontic technique

PLEASE NOTE: This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community: please click Download and log in with a valid BU account to access. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.Includes black & white photographs.Thesis (M.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Graduate Dentistry, 1986 (Endodontics)Bibliography : leaves 221-227.A vast amount of the literature has been written on the virtues of filling short of the radiographic terminus. they claim that filling to the radiographic terminus is an overfill and this is bad. They also claim that overfilling into a lesion of endodontic origin reduces the chances for the lesion to heal. A 1978 survey reported that almost 90% of endodontists believe the best way to obturate the root canal system is by underfilling it short of the radiographic apex. It is the B.U. philosophy that all teeth can be treated successfully 100% of the time, if they are periodontally sound or can be made so, and if the foramen or foramina can be sealed. This holds true even for teeth with large lesions of endodontic origin. It is also believed that if a tooth is properly treated endodontically, an overfill will have no effect on the success of a case. Cases of patients with teeth having lesions of endodontic origin that were treated with the B.U. endodontic technique and resulted in an overfill will be presented. Recall radiographs will be used to assess periapical status and determine if treatment was successfull. This study looks at 85 cases. The patient’s records were reviewed to determine clinical symptomology and radiographic status at the time of treatment. Recall data was obtained from the clinical and radiographic examination given at the recall appointment. Of the 85 cases observed, 83 of them were determined to be successful, that is, the tooth was entirely comfortable and the lesion had healed with periradicular bone structure and periodontal membrane normal in radiographic appearance. Two cases were considered to be unsuccessful. In one of these cases the lesion remained unchanged and the tooth was not clinically comfortable. In the other case, the tooth was clinically comfortable, but the lesion, although smaller, had incomplete bone repair. My conclusions concur with the above stated B.U. philosophy. The results of this study prove that if a tooth is properly cleaned, shaped and obturated in three dimensions, all lesions of endodontic origin will heal, even those cases with overfill which, as demonstrated, has no effect at all on healing