This new textbook on current and potential applications of nanotechnology in endodontics by Dr. Anil Kishen is presented to the endodontic community at a juncture when there is emerging understanding that traditional endodontic therapy may be limited in its ability to cure apical periodontitis and retain treated teeth. Suffice it to observe that the clinical mid-term (4–10 year) treatment outcomes reported in literature from 50 to 60 years ago [1–5] and in current literature [6–8] are comparable [9, 10], to have one wonder whether they can indeed improve. This may be disappointing to many who consider that the elapsed decades, and especially the past 20 years, have brought along remarkable development of endodontic technologies, representing one of the most rapid and extensive technological evolutions in all of dentistry.

The passage of time has allowed improved understanding of endodontic disease and its primary cause, the modalities applied to address that cause as well as the limitations of those modalities. Driven by an ever-increasing volume of research, this process has seen several shifts in focus that, in turn, have generated technological advances that improved almost every aspect of how endodontic therapy is delivered. The rapid pace of those advances challenged the endodontic community to keep up both with the changing focus and the technologies developed to improve endodontic therapy.

And yet, major breakthroughs in improving treatment outcomes have been elusive, suggesting that novel, ‘out-of-the-box’ approaches may have to be explored beyond the conventional concepts of canal disinfection and filling as well as tooth restoration. Dr. Kishen’s textbook offers the endodontic community the first focused glimpse at nanotechnology that can be considered ‘out of the box’ when compared with existing endodontic therapeutic approaches.