Pre-endo restorative

Recently I had to access the root canals through a large amalgam that extended into the pulp chamber. This had been placed by a previous student that had wanted to ensure structural integrity of the tooth before endo was commenced. Despite it being a good amalgam restoration, it was compromised by my access as they had not left a covering over the pulp chamber (e.g Fuji) meaning that I had to dig around the amalgam trying to find the chamber without any reference points. Secondly, The amalgam meant that the electronic apex locator was having false positives of being over the apex as the contact with the file cause a closing of the circuit with low resistance (seen at the area just past the apex)

When restoring teeth pre endo we prefer GIC or composite.