Main

Belleflamme MM, Geerts SO et al. J Dent 2017; 63: 1–7

Endocrowns were first described almost 20 years ago; they are used to restore endodontically posterior teeth and comprise blocks of ceramic or composite luted adhesively to the remaining tooth structure including the pulpal floor. Endocrowns avoid the use of post-retained restorations in posterior teeth. These investigators report a '10-year Kaplan-Meier estimated survival...98.8%' for endocrowns. But this figure may be misleading in that the mean observation period was 44.7 ± 34.6 months. Endocrowns may experience late failure. The investigators recruited 94 patients (n=137 endocrowns). However, they were only able to recall two thirds of these patients. They did not speculate as to why one third of these patients were not able to attend for recall. Notwithstanding this, the estimated success rate of 54.9% at 10 years may not reflect accurately the efficacy of this restoration; most of these failures were ascribed to periodontal disease, and minor chipping and not failure of the restoration per se. Only one tooth became symptomatic which would imply that 'immediate dentin sealing', not only can be used to lute successfully endocrowns, but achieves a coronal seal over the endodontically treated tooth.