Endodontics

What is an Endodontist?

An endodontist is a dentist who specializes in root canal treatment. Root canal, or endodontic treatment, is a procedure performed to remove damaged tissue from inside the root canals of a tooth. As specialists, endodontists limit their practice to endodontic procedures.

Endodontists have advanced surgical and nonsurgical skills that make them uniquely qualified to treat routine as well as complex cases. The care that an endodontist provides is supported by extensive education on how to perform the very best endodontics.

After completing dental school, endodontists attend a two- or three-year advanced dental school program that focuses only on endodontic science and procedures. Endodontists also attend continuing education courses after they are in practice, so they are knowledgeable about state-of-the-art research, clinical procedures, and technology.

History

Endodontics: An Ancient Science Endodontics may have been practiced as early as the second or third century B.C. A skull found in the Negev Desert in Israel had a bronze wire in one of its teeth. Researchers believe the wire may have been used to treat an infected pulp.

Other evidence shows that pulp chambers were drained to relieve pain and pressure in the first century A.D. Over the next few centuries, early dentists increased their understanding of the role of the tooth pulp in dental health and developed numerous methods of treating it, including cauterizing and removing the pulp or covering it with protective coatings made of everything from gold foil to asbestos.

A Leap Into the Future: X-rays and Anesthetics

The greatest leap in endodontic history came with the introduction of x-rays and effective anesthetics in the first part of the 20th century. These advances made endodontic treatment more predictable and more comfortable for the patient.

Steady Progress

Interest in endodontics grew quickly as scientists began to research endodontic treatment. Their efforts and simultaneous scientific and technological advances, such as culturing and other modern methods, proved the safety and efficacy of root canal treatment, allowing hundreds of millions of patients to save teeth that otherwise would have been lost to extraction, the only alternative of the day.

Birth of a Specialty

In December 1942, because of the growing interest in endodontics, a small group of dentists, practitioners and educators sent invitations to their colleagues to form an organization in which they could share common endodontic experiences and interests. The first formal endodontic organization, The American Association of Endodontists (AAE), was founded in February 1943 at the Palmer House in Chicago. In 1963, the American Dental Association recognized endodontics as the newest of the eight dental specialties.