Biological principles of endodontic treatment of teeth with pulp necrosis and apical lesions

Abstract

The clinician who practices endodontics routinely faces three conditions that require treatment: vital pulps, necrotic pulps and retreatment cases. The successful treatment of these three conditions depends on the recognition of their respective idiosyncrasies. Canals of necrotic teeth associated with apical periodontitis represent an infectious problem and should be treated differently from vital teeth (non-infected). The success of the endodontic treatment will depend on effective infection control promoted by chemomechanical preparation, intracanal medication and obturation. This paper reviews the biologic principles of the endodontic treatment of teeth with necrotic pulps and apical periodontitis, with the purpose to provide the clinician with better conditions to improve the treatment outcome.