SP-34 Saving Patients' Lives Through Accurate Endodontic Diagnoses

CE Hours: 0.75

Description: Radiographic imaging requires recognition of typical anatomic structures and distinction from a vast array of pathologic processes. Accurate diagnostic assessment often entails recognizing normal and abnormal radiographic features coincident with synthesizing clinical and available historical information. When clinicians are confronted with interpreting various radiographic curiosities and unusual disease presentations, pulp vitality testing is crucial to determine correct pulp and periapical diagnoses, followed by appropriate treatment. Several examples of diagnostic challenges and radiographic oddities mimicking periradicular lesions of endodontic origin, culled from the records of the presenter’s 35 years of practice, will be exhibited and discussed. Several cases displaying anomalous oral findings and referred for endodontic treatment were diagnosed as malignant conditions and subsequently treated successfully, thanks to accurate and timely endodontic diagnoses.

Learning Objectives:  

• Evaluate radiographic oddities with clinical skepticism.
• Perform thorough and accurate pulp vitality tests to treatment plan oral diseases appropriately.
• List and discuss nonodontogenic conditions mimicking radiographic lesions of endodontic origin.