Endodontic post

A post is cemented or bonded into the canal space of a root-canal-treated tooth so that a core buildup has something to hold onto when too little of the crown is left. Many dentists were trained to place one "just to be safe."

The research does not support that habit. Across six independent systematic reviews, what predicts a treated tooth's survival is how much structure remains, especially the number of intact walls and the presence of a ferrule; adding a post to a tooth that already has two sound walls and a ferrule buys nothing measurable. Ryan rates the evidence moderate, because no single large trial settles it.

So the post is a retention decision made after honestly assessing what is left of the tooth, not a reflex on every endodontic case. On material, one review Ryan covers found pooled survival of 92.8% for glass-fiber posts against 78.1% for metal: a large numeric gap that was not statistically significant.