[Need and quality of endodontic treatment]

In the literature, the need of endodontic treatment appears to be studied radiographically by looking for the frequency of apical radiolucencies. Dependent on the age of the subjects, one percent to almost ten percent of all teeth and one third to two thirds of all subjects are found to show apical osteolysis. The outcome of endodontic treatment is also assessed to be rather poor, in view of the findings that one third to one half of the endodontically treated teeth show apical rarefactions. Of even more teeth the root canal fillings are assessed to be 'unacceptable'. Confirmation of this kind of findings for the Netherlands needs further study.