Case Studies involving Endodontics
Mrs AE from Usk (Monmouthshire). A two dimensional image of this tooth would not show the true extent of the roof-fracture. We would need to anaesthetise the patient and explore the nature of the fracture before diagnosing the tooth as un-restorable.
A three dimensional image shows that the tooth has completely fractured from high on the palatal side to deep on the buccal side of the root.
It also shows us that the buccal plate will be very thin, and is likely to resorb to nothing if the tooth is not quickly extracted. Fortunately we can also see that if an implant is placed by penetrating the palatal wall of the socket, then there is sufficient bone height above the socket to gain primary stability, and augment the buccal wall.