Access cavity design and scientific research
Abstract
Clinical studies demonstrate that long term prognosis of the root filled teeth is influenced by the quality of the restoration as well as by the quality of the root canal treatment itself. The most recent trends in restoration of endodontically treated teeth are following the concept of minimally invasive dentistry, proposing more conservative, less expensive and bio-economic restorations, based mostly on adhesive dentistry and the introduction of new materials and technologies. Following these trends, the access procedures in endodontics and the root canal preparation are changing in a conservative way, sometimes drastically if compared with the traditional concepts of cavity outline opening and coronal straight-line access to reach the apical region. Endodontic literature appears to be poor on demonstrating how these minimal invasive access procedures can influence the quality and prognosis of root canal treatment. The present lecture will analyze the technical procedures of minimal invasive access in different clinical situations and the possible mechanical improvements derived from it. Moreover, the limits of these procedures will be critically analysed to define how much minimal invasive clinicians should be in order to ensure “gold standard” endodontic treatments.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
At conclusion, participants should be able to:
• Describe the basic concepts of access cavity preparation.
• Perform new strategies to optimize access cavity preparation.
• Evaluate critically the advantages and disadvantages of present
technologies, instruments and techniques.
Biography
Gianluca Plotino was born in 1978 in Rome, Italy. He graduated in dentistry from the Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Rome in 2002. He received the “Alfred Bean Memorial” prize from the Chicago Dental Society for the best Italian research graduate thesis 2001-2003, the “Hans Genet Award” from the European Society of Endodontology for the best European Researcher in 2013 and several other research prizes. He became Assistant Professor of Endodontics in the School of Dentistry at the Catholic University of Rome spending his time teaching, giving lectures and partecipating in the faculty practice. Dr. Plotino was Professor of Endodontics in the School of Dental Hygiene from 2005 to 2008 at the Catholic University of Rome where he obtained his PhD in 2009. From 2009 he is working in the Department of Endodontics at the “Sapienza” – University of Rome as Senior Lecturer and Professor of Scientific English in the School of Dental Hygiene until 2017. In 2017 he received the certification to be Professor of II level and in 2018 to be Professor of I level. Gianluca Plotino is a certified member of the European Society of Endodontology (ESE), International Member of the American Association of Endodontists (AAE), active member of the Italian Society of Conservative Dentistry (SIDOC), the Italian Academy of Endodontics (AIE) and the Italian Society of Endodontics (SIE). Dr. Plotino published more that 90 articles in scientific peer-reviewed journals on different endodontic and restorative topics, 2 books and contributed with numerous chapters in textbooks. He is Associate Editor of the European Endodontic Journal and the Italian Journal of Endodontics and part of the Editorial Board of several other journals. Dr. Plotino owns two patents, has given several lectures, courses and hands-on courses worldwide and works in his own private practice limited to endodontics and restorative dentistry in Rome, Italy.
