Treatment of the injured upper fourth premolar in the dog

The upper fourth premolars are very important teeth in the equilibrated crossways bite action of the teeth and food taking. Therefore an attempt should be made to preserve them. A frequent injury to the crown is fractured crown with pulp exposure, the consequence of which is an acute or chronic inflammation of the pulp that can progress to the chronic inflammation of the periapical tissue. In majority of cases radiographs demonstrated peri and parapicalwidened periodontall igament space, which proceed in the region of apex into a distinct, rounded, radiolucent area or proceeded into the surrounding bone without clear visible borders. Therefore 39 teeth, that also had severely damaged crown, were extracted. In 30 dogs root canals of the upper fourth premolars were endodontically treatet with the crown down technique in one single meeting. After thorough cleaning and sterilising of the rooth canal the hermetic three dimensional filling with heated alpha phase guttapercha followed. Characteristics of heated alpha phase guttapercha with plastic carrier allowed hermetic obturation of the main canal as well as apical delta foraminas in a single insertion without additionall ateraland verticalcondensation and without placing of new rigid guttaperchas. When heated, alpha phase guttapercha become exceedingly sticky and tacky and adhered perfectly to the cleaned, conically shaped and desinfected root canal. As endodontically treated teeth become more brittle and therefore more susceptible to further deterioration we decided in six cases to replace the crown with a metal crown, which was cemented with resin adhesive cement Panavia 21 DentalAdhesive. One of its outstanding characteristics is that of bonding to the dentin and the rest of the enameland high tensile and compressive strength. The resin cement Panavia 21 DentalAdhesive is among allcements the most effective one among the best cements capable of undertaking the equilibrated crossways bite action in the dog.