Know when to say "when" in endodontics: smoke on the water

Ultimately, this article is a challenge to assess preoperatively both the patient and tooth and ask several important questions before a handpiece is ever picked up: (1) Can this tooth be restored? (2) Should this tooth be restored? (3) Does the patient want to save the tooth, and will the patient have the needed follow-up treatment? (4) If this tooth cannot be restored as it is now, can it be made restorable through periodontal procedures? (5) If the tooth is restorable and the patient was my mother, am I the doctor to bring about the best long-term prognosis for the tooth endodontically? (6) Can this patient tolerate the contemplated treatment physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially? The long-term goal for the patient should be the maintenance of the tooth in asymptomatic function. In 30 years, like the Deep Purple rendition of Highway Star and Smoke on the Water, which had appeal to me in Seattle, someone will hopefully look at a given root canal and say that the treatment was originally performed well, for the right reasons, and stood the test of time.