Reasons for failure of nonsurgical root canal treatment in Nepali population

Non surgical root canal treatment is carried out to salvage the teeth in oral cavity. Although the success rate is found to be ranging from 81-95%, for variety of reasons failure of root canal is still seen in day to day practice. This is a cross sectional study done in Nepali population to evaluate the causes for such failures. It was found that inadequate obturation (45%) was the major cause of failure followed by missed canal, (32%) and fractured or dislodged restoration (14%). This study shows that the basis for successful non surgical root canal treatment depends on operators knowledge on individual tooth anatomy and skill to properly clean, shape, obturate and restore the tooth in function.