Division of Endodontics

Division Chief

Established in 1965, the Division of Endodontics is an integral part of Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine. The Division is responsible for education, research, and patient care within the field of Endodontics. Learn more about the establishment of the division in the video on the page below.

Education

The Division is involved in predoctoral education through a planned sequence of advanced courses and supervised clinical training. Students learn:

  • The principles of diagnosis and treatment planning
  • The principles of cleaning, shaping and obturating canals
  • The biologic basis behind the steps in endodontic therapy
  • The issues involved in treating resorption and trauma
  • The pharmacology, histology, and biology of the pulp
  • The use of rotary files

The goal is to make each student a qualified dentist with sound biomedical knowledge combined with competent clinical skills in endodontics.

The Postdoctoral Endodontics Program educates students through a planned sequence of advanced courses and supervised clinical training to make the student a qualified endodontist with sound biomedical knowledge combined with proficient clinical skills. The postdoctoral endodontic students provide advanced endodontic procedures for patients throughout the College of Dental Medicine.

Postdoctoral students take core courses with postdoctoral students of other specialties. Interdisciplinary seminars in treatment planning and sequencing allow for much cross fertilization and collaboration that carries over to the clinical setting. Students are all involved in endodontic research.

The Division offers one-week externships for third and fourth year dental students, as well as a postdoctoral externship for foreign trained dentists.

Patient Care

Several of the faculty endodontists practice with ColumbiaDoctors Dentistry, the faculty practice of the College of Dental Medicine.

The Division of Endodontics also provides treatment for children and adults at the College of Dental Medicine's Teaching Clinics. Graduate dentists in specialty training provide care with the assistance and supervision of faculty specialists.

Research

Our faculty is involved in scientific research within the field of endodontics. This involves supervision of student research, collaboration with other dental modalities and promotion of ideas that can lead to meaningful projects. Current research projects include a retrospective study of the outcome of endodontic surgery, an epidemiological study of endodontic surgery, evaluation of pulp vitality testing, prospective and retrospective assessment of clinical pulp regeneration, apical transportation of different rotary file systems, analysis of anatomical structures using CBCT, and dental pulp regeneration by “cell homing”. Regeneration techniques for the pulp space as well as the attachment apparatus are constantly being explored and tested.

Associated Postdoctoral Programs

History of the Division of Endodontics

Fifty years ago, Joseph Leavitt, DDS '40, and Irving Naidorf, DDS '41 were driven to establish the Endodontics Division by a desire to save teeth. Marc Leavitt, CDM board member and son of Dr. Leavitt, produced this video to honor their seminal work as well as the memory of his father.

 

 

50 Years of Endodontics at Columbia: A Tribute to Drs. Joseph Leavitt and Irving Naidorf