A critical reevaluation of stresses generated during vertical and lateral condensation of gutta-percha in the root canal.

The finite element method was used to calculate the stresses in a maxillary canine tooth produced during lateral and vertical condensation. Description of the biological domain to be analyzed, and conversion of the manual operations of the endodontist to realistic load representation are intricate problems which must be overcome before stresses are recovered and plotted. The stresses in dentin are in general of comparable magnitudes during lateral or vertical condensation, but these magnitudes generally remain much below those presented in a previous study. From these calculations it appears that root fractures reported by some investigators may be explained in terms of stress concentrations and local irregularities of the samples tested.