AAE Consensus Conference on Diagnostic Terminology: background and perspectives.

摘要

Diagnostic terminology in endodontics has been a topic of discussion, controversy, and debate for decades. Confusion in terminology naturally arises when educators, clinicians, and researchers use a wide array of diagnostic diction and schematics; when there are distinct differences in definitions of terms; when key endodontic textbooks promulgate histologically based characterizations for clinically based diagnoses; and when there are strong proponents of specific classification systems. Reasons for these disparities are myriad and multifactorial because diagnosis is already, in its own right, a complex and challenging process. Furthermore, there is a lack of biologically based terms that can represent the true status of the pulp and periapical tissues, poor correlations exist between clinical symptomatology and pulpal histopa-thology, and lack of sophistication with current armamentaria endorses confusion.