A nationwide survey of contemporary philosophies and techniques of restoring endodontically treated teeth

Contemporary endodontic therapy has allowed patients to retain severely damaged teeth. The restoration of most endodontically treated teeth involves complex and controversial procedures. There is a diversity of opinion about the need for coronoradicular stabilization, and numerous post systems and techniques have been described. It is not known what materials and techniques are most commonly used. To expand the knowledge of current philosophies and prevailing techniques, a comprehensive nationwide survey of 1525 dentists was conducted. of the 1066 respondents, 909 (85%) reported restoring more than 30 endodontically treated teeth per year, and this subset became the focus group of the survey. Board-certified prosthodontists comprised 40% of this group, educationally qualified prosthodontists 28%, and general dentists 32%. Responses to questions were statistically analyzed. Statistical analysis revealed that philosophies and techniques varied significantly with the dentist's geographic location, age, specialty status, and dental school faculty status.