A lot of things changed throughout several decades (including people used to smoke inside the plane!) but this adage remains just as true today as it was decades ago. The foundation of endodontic success lies in thorough debridement of the root canal system, and that, in turn, depends on effective irrigation.

Instruments shape canals — but their real purpose is to create a pathway for irrigants, primarily sodium hypochlorite/EDTA, to work to their full potential. This also means you need to clean the canal with activated irrigants for successful root canal therapy.

The introduction of crown-down techniques and rotary systems has made this achievable for every clinician.

We strongly favor a continuously tapered .04 preparation, which maximizes irrigant exchange and makes master cone fitting both predictable and straightforward.

Locating canals can be one of the most challenging parts of endodontics. When in doubt — trust the dentinal map.
The fine, dark lines on the chamber floor naturally lead to canal orifices. Following these lines under good illumination and magnification will guide you to calcified or hidden canals.

A BL Endo Explorer is ideal for tracing these maps — it’s sharp, rigid, and designed specifically for negotiating sclerotic or calcified canals.

Diagnosis often makes or breaks an endodontic case.
If you observe a fistula or sinus tract, trace it with a gutta-percha point before proceeding. Use a no. 25 master cone point, insert it gently until resistance is met, and take a radiograph. Make sure you tell the patient that it is normal for a patient to feel a slight pain when inserting gutta percha!

The radiograph will lead you directly to the source of the lesion — clarifying which tooth is involved and whether the problem is endodontic or periodontal in origin.
Remember to remove the gutta-percha point before dismissing the patient.

File separation prevention begins long before instrumentation.
One of the most common causes of breakage is failure to visualize complex anatomy — such as merging or bifurcated canals.

A properly angled pre-operative radiograph (15–20°) (with size 10 hand files) provides much more insight than a straight-on film. File shot is an extra x-ray you are taking but will help to understand the curvature of the canal to decide final preparation size. Look for canals that disappear or periodontal ligaments that abruptly terminate. Understanding the true canal trajectory is your best insurance against separation.

There’s truth to this saying — not because of patient temperament, but because stressful cases can compromise your clinical judgment.

For example, pulp-floor perforations often occur when treating geriatric or anxious patients. In elderly cases, the pulp chamber is receded; in anxious ones, urgency to achieve anesthesia can lead to hasty access.

Always ensure profound anesthesia before starting. For resistant cases, intraosseous anesthesia systems like X-Tip can be game-changers.

Too often, this phrase is used as an excuse. True calcification usually progresses coronally to apically, meaning once you bypass the coronal portion, the canal is typically patent.
What feels like “calcification” is frequently a sharp curvature or bifurcation.
Only in long-standing periodontal disease do we often see genuine apical calcification.

For mature permanent teeth, pulp capping after crown prep exposure rarely succeeds long term.
Young patients may do well due to higher pulpal vascularity, but for adults, the three-year success rate is poor.

If you cause a pulpal exposure while prepping for a crown — do the root canal.
Modern rotary instrumentation makes this efficient, and it prevents future complications of accessing through a new crown.

The problem is the word always.
Most teeth can — and should — be closed at the end of treatment. If persistent drainage occurs, have the patient rinse with warm salt water (¼ tsp per 8 oz) for 10–15 minutes to encourage drainage.

Only leave a tooth open if drainage cannot be controlled. In that case, place a large cotton pellet to block debris, instruct the patient to rinse hourly, prescribe antibiotics, and re-evaluate within 48 hours for closure.

This is one of the most enduring misconceptions in restorative dentistry.
The structural weakness of endodontically treated teeth comes from access preparation, not from dehydration.

Posts do not strengthen teeth and while prepping for post space there can be other complications like perforations making the tooth nonrestorable. Their only function is to retain the core.

Always respect the ferrule effect — crown margins must rest on sound tooth structure, not core material. If necessary, perform crown lengthening to achieve it.