Goals and Objectives

• To guide our understanding of the future of endodontics and the relation of clinical practice to research by examining the past.
• To be able to place our present practices in an overall perspective with our past.
• To examine a few salient papers that might be missed in specialized sections of the literature and compare the authors thought processes to those of present day authors. In a development of a sound philosophy of endodontic practice and rationale for the use of specific types of therapy, we look for support from scientific investigations and from critically evaluated clinical experiences. The last few decades has seen an avalanche of literature in the field of endodontics. This explosion of scientific and clinical data has, in some ways, made the practice of endodontics confusing. Coolidge has stated that “just as research opens doors, it also closes doors.” It may also be added that there still remains many doors to be opened or closed as the case may be.

            1860
Flagg FG.  Creosote and cotton in fang filling.  Dent Cosmos 1:115-117. 1860.

            1862
McQuillen JR.  Editorial--Who first filled nerve cavities? Dent Cosmos 3:556-557.
1862.

            1876
Wadsworth HN.  Resetting and transplanting teeth. Dent Cosmos 18:577-582.
1876.

            1880
Farrar JN.  Radical treatment of alveolar abscess.  Dent Cosmos 22:377-383.
1880.

Talbot ES.  Preparation of nerve canals for treatment and filling.
Dent Cosmos 22:527-529. 1880.

            1890
Gram CT.  Filling of difficult root canals.  Dent Cosmos 32:751-752. 1890.

1892
Briggs EC. The removal of the tooth pulp by the use of cocaine. Dent Cosmos
34:992-993. 1892.

           
1896
Morton WJ.  The x ray and its application in dentistry. Dent Cosmos 38:478-486. 1896.

            1901
Price WA.  Practical progress in dental skiagraphy. Dental Items of Interest
23:452-472. 1901.

            1906
Buckley JP.  The rational treatment of putrescent pulps and their sequellae. Dent
Cosmos 48:537-544. 1906.

            1907
Curtis IC.  Fifty years of dental science, with its fads and foibles.
Dent Cosmos 49:1040-1044. 1907.

            1918
Hunter W.  The role of sepsis and antisepsis in medicine. Dent Cosmos. 

1919
Johnson CN.  Shall pulpless teeth be retained?  J Dent Res 1:94-106. 1919.

            1924
Blaney JR.  The problem of teaching root canal technic. JADA 11:1187-1196.
1924.

            1928
Lyons CJ.  Apicoectomy.  JADA 15:18-21. 1928.

            1931
Grove CJ.  The value of the dentinocemental junction in pulp canal srgery.
J Dent Res 11:466-468. 1931.

            1936
Jasper EA.  Root canal therapy in modern dentistry.  JADA 37:1895-1901. 1936.

1960
Coolidge ED.  Past and present concepts in endodontics.  JADA 61:676-688.
1960.

            1961
Ingle JI.  A standardized endodontic technique utilizing newly designed instruments and filling materials.  Oral Surg 14:83-91. 1961.
            1974
Grossman LI.  Endodontics: a peep into the past and the future. 
Oral Surg 37:599-608. 1974.

            1980
Cruse WP, Bellizzi R.  A historical review of endodontics, 1689-1963, part
1. J Endodon 6:495-499. 1980.
           
Cruse WP, Bellizzi R.  A historical review of endodontics, 1689-1963, part
2. J Endodon 6:532-535. 1980.     

Bellizzi R, Cruse WP.  A historical review of endodontics, 1689-1963, part
3. J Endodon 6:576-580. 1980.