Objectives. Successful endodontic treatment depends on effective measures to eliminate and prevent infection of root canals. Initially treatment should start with isolation and disinfection of the operating field. This review makes an inventory of the available knowledge regarding its establishment and maintenance. Materials and Methods. A literature search was conducted in the PubMed database in order to identify clinical trials examining disinfection or unintentional contamination of the endodontic operative field. A list of 115 articles was obtained and screened. Five relevant articles were identified. These articles were read in full text. The reference lists from these articles were checked manually for additional studies and 3 studies were obtained. A total of 8 articles met the inclusion criteria. Results. There was a great variety in terms of aim, method and material of the included studies. None could prove a totally reliable aseptic operative field and not one chemical, or combination of chemicals, were found in more than one study. Conclusions. No study documented complete asepsis following initial disinfection, and no study could document predictable maintenance of an established bacteria-free surface. Critical appraisal and standardization of the disinfection and aseptic procedures in endodontics are needed.