Guided Endodontics

Innovation in dentistry occurs when there is a willingness to explore and improve both diagnosis and treatment. The challenge is to cohesively marry the equipment and materials to new software applications. Safer and less invasive protocols are the direction of dentistry's future. Guided endodontic procedures are a promising technique offering a highly predictable outcome and lower risk of iatrogenic damage. Minimally invasive treatment can be performed, and chairside time can be reduced using guided procedures. Dynamic navigation is used extensively in neurosurgery, spinal and orthopaedic surgery, now endodontics is embracing this technology. Improvement in stereoscopic cameras, the resolution of computer screens, optical markers and the reference array to the patient and the instrumentation used will herald an unprecedented level of accuracy in all patient centric dental procedures. Though the cost of these systems can be high, the accuracy which the guided procedure entails is certainly worth the price. The future of endodontics and dentistry in general is heading towards software and hardware guidance. In the future these systems will become more of a necessity than luxury.