Odontotherapy-Endodontics

The discipline of Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics was established within the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Medicine Timişoara in 1963 under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Nicolae Duţescu. In 1964, Prof. Dr. Victor Severineanu took over the management of the Discipline, being followed in 1992 by Prof. Dr. Ioana Nica, respectively by Prof. Dr. Virgil Cârligeriu in 2009.

Within this discipline there are currently 8 full-time and 2 substitute teachers, who coordinate the courses and preclinical and clinical activity in Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics of the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th year undergraduate students of the Faculty of Dentistry from the Romanian and English sections. Also, they coordinate the activity of the 3^rd year students from the College of Dental Care. The discipline has logistically 8 dental offices equipped with 26 dental units and an endodontic operating microscope.

Since 2009, with the establishment of the new specialty program in Endodontics, the members of the discipline guide and coordinate annually the training of post-graduate students in this specialty and related fields.

The curriculum for Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics is continuously updated to be in accordance with the current standards imposed by international societies and European curricula, being permanently enriched with the latest novelties in the field. In addition to the preclinical/clinical activity with the students, courses and workshops are organized annually for students and young doctors from Timişoara and other universities. The teachers of the discipline are actively involved in organizing scientific events and participate as invited lecturers in conferences/workshops in Romania and abroad and are constantly improving their knowledges by participating to specific congresses.

Since 2014, the Endodontics discipline organized every two years, in collaboration with the Romanian Society of Dental Microscopy, the only International Summer School of Endodontics in Europe, in which, in addition to the members of the faculty, a series of prestigious teachers, researchers and endodontists from Romania and abroad are invited to give conferences and workshops.

The discipline of Restorative Dentistry teaches courses and practically trains students from both Romanian and English sections during an entire academic year (the third year of study). According to the curriculum, the courses from the first semester are based on the “Technology of conservative preparation and restoration of carious lesions”, and the theme of the practical activity in the modern Phantom Laboratory of the faculty is in full accordance with the courses. The second semester is entirely a clinical one and puts for the first time the students in direct contact with the patients, the study topic being “The management of the patients with carious lesions by risk assessment”. Students are theoretically and practically trained in the diagnosis and treatment plan of the patients with carious lesions, according to the latest concepts in the field. They are guided and supervised to learn a correct clinical attitude regarding patients’ history, examination, and diagnosis, to establish a correct treatment plan, and to perform all the necessary clinical procedures to fulfill it, starting with rubber dam isolation, conservative tooth preparation and direct adhesive restoration using latest generations of composite materials and techniques, as well as the clinical steps and materials to protect the dental pulp.

The discipline of Endodontics covers the courses and clinical activity of the students during 2 semesters, as follows: in the first semester of the 4^th year, the theoretical and practical activity is orientated to pulpal and periapical disease, endo diagnosis, basic steps in endodontic treatment and hand instrumentation, while in the second semester of the 5^th year, the curricula includes modern root canal instrumentation with rotary/reciprocation files and obturation with warm vertical techniques, indications and steps of the orthograde retreatment in cases of endodontic failures, endo-periodontal lesions, trauma involving the dental pulp, endodontic emergencies. Our working protocols include rubber dam isolation, electrometric measurement of the working length using apex locators, shaping of the root canal with increased taper using standardized hand instruments (in the fourth year of study), and modern rotary/reciprocation instruments from nickel-titanium alloys and endodontic motors (in the fifth year), irrigation of the endodontic space with sodium hypochlorite alternating with EDTA solutions, as well as filling the endodontic space using lateral condensation or warm vertical compactions technique (the continuous wave of condensation). Also, students are taught about the importance of the coronal restoration of the endodontically treated teeth and are trained how to achieve it clinically.

Annually, the teachers within the Discipline of Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics scientifically coordinate a significant number of bachelor’s degree thesis of the students from the Faculty of Dental Medicine, and constantly involve under- and postgraduate students in the research activity of the department.