Middle mesial canal - A mystery in mandibular first molar: Report of two cases

Abstract

Endodontic therapy aims at disinfection of the root canal system. Efforts are made by root canal instrumentation and chemical disinfection to remove the infected pulp tissue and debris from the root canal space. However due to variations in canal anatomy, it is impossible to instrument all the parts of canal and that may lead to persistence or progression of infection. Thorough knowledge of tooth morphology is important to improve the success rate of endodontic treatment. Missed canals are considered to be an important factor for endodontic failure and about 4% cases treated by specialists also reported have shown to have missed canals. Hence use of all the available methods to detect the additional aberrant canals and disinfection of them during root canal treatment procedure is essential for favorable endodontic outcome.