Abstracts of research papers presented at the Third Congress of the European Society of Endodontology, 12-14 November 1987, held in Madrid, Spain.

This article presents abstracts of research papers presented at the Third Congress of the European Society of Endodontology, held in Madrid, Spain on November 12-14, 1987. Bacterial contamination is now widely recognized as an important factor influencing the response of the dental pulp to operative trauma and to dental materials. In histologically based trials, approximately one third of the sections are normally stained specifically to demonstrate bacteria. There is little evidence in the literature of an evaluation of the sensitivity of such technique. The antibacterial activity of the vapours of camphorated phenol, iodine potassium iodide, aqueous 2 per cent glutaraldehyde, phenol, formaldehyde and cresophene has been tested in vitro against 20 species of bacteria frequently isolated from root canals.