EndoLounge

A Misdiagnosis: a Big Nail in This One’s Coffin

August 23, 2016

Patient presents with apparent sinus tract in quadrant 4. According to the patient, the sinus tract had been identified by a hygienist during a hygiene appointment. Subsequently, the endodontic treatment had been initiated in order to resolve the infection…

$visible vertical root fracture$

What Lies Beneath!

February 4, 2015

Excessive root dentin removal during endodontic treatment and use of posts are the predominant risk factors for root fractures. Common clinical findings associate with root fractured teeth have been discussed in a previous post…

It’s Vital…with No Fillings…but it Hurts!

September 19, 2014

Radiographs can be so deceiving! This radiograph of the first quadrant looks so calm, so unassuming… everything looks normal. What you didn’t see was the patient attached to this radiograph – having extreme, radiating pain. When everything looks fine on the radiograph, and we have a quadrant full of unrestored or minimally restored teeth, my spidey sense tells me to pick up a probe, and also a transilluminating device…

Beware of the Cracks!

May 30, 2014

A patient comes in with tooth #2-6 (upper left first maxillary molar) being extremely sensitive to cold (a.k.a. a “hot tooth”). You notice a very old, large amalgam filling on the tooth which had been done over 2o years ago. No recent restorative changes in the area is reported by the patient…

$vertical root fracture$

It is ‘Game Over’!

October 9, 2012

Vertical root fractures (VRF):

– are associated with endodontically treated teeth.
– are commonly directed bucco-lingually.
– are mostly diagnosed by localized probing defects (+/- sinus tract) that are usually present around the fractured root…

‘No’ Treatment is ‘The’ Treatment!

August 21, 2012

A patient presented with pain in the lower anterior area. A fairly good-looking and recent root canal (approx. over 2 months old) had been performed on tooth #4.2. Patient’s pain however had been progressively getting worse since the completion of treatment. The pain was not occlusion-related and analgesics had not been helping either…