title: Current considerations concerning endodontically treated teeth: alteration of hard dental tissues and biomechanical properties following endodontic therapy.
abstract: The aim of this general article is to present an overview of the current knowledge about composition and structural changes and also about specific biomechanical alterations related to vitality loss or endodontic therapy. For a long time, these issues have been controversially approached from a clinical standpoint and are therefore still confusing for many practitioners. Vitality loss or endodontic procedures seem to induce only negligible changes in hard dental tissue moisture. Physico-chemical properties of dentin can be modified by some of the endodontic chemical products used for chemo-mechanical debridement. On the other hand, tooth biomechanical behavior is affected, since tooth strength is reduced proportionally to coronal tissue loss, due to either pre-existent carious/non-carious lesions or cavity acces preparation, besides restorative procedures. The related literature shows the lack of accepted clinical standards and consensus regarding the optimal way of approaching the specific tooth biomechanics following endodontic therapy.
authors.affiliation: "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Department of Endodontics, Romania. bogdim@gmail.com
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dimitriu
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vârlan
authors.forename: Ioana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Suciu
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vârlan
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bodnar
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D003804:Dentin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000503:physiopathology; D006244:Hardness; D006801:Humans; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D014082:Tooth Fractures / Q000517:prevention & control; D019553:Tooth, Nonvital / Q000503:physiopathology*