Disclosed herein is a system for the endodontic treatment of a root canal. The system includes an endodontic instrument; an endodontic handpiece having a drive motor for rotating the endodontic instrument releasably attached to the handpiece; and a control unit for controlling the rotation of the endodontic instrument according to one or more predetermined rotational sequences. The rotational sequences include reciprocating the endodontic instrument by continuously sequentially rotating the endodontic instrument in a first direction followed by reversing the direction of rotation so that 0.5×Ψ≦α