The specific biomechanical alterations related to vitality loss or endodontic procedures are confusing issues for the practitioner and have been controversially approached from a clinical standpoint. The aim of part 1 of this literature review is to present an overview of the current knowledge about composition changes, structural alterations, and status following endodontic therapy and restorative procedures. The basic search process included a systematic review of the PubMed/Medline database between 1990 and 2005, using single or combined key words to obtain the most comprehensive list of references; a perusal of the references of the relevant sources completed the review. Only negligible alterations in tissue moisture and composition attributable to vitality loss or endodontic therapy were reported. Loss of vitality followed by proper endodontic therapy proved to affect tooth biomechanical behavior only to a limited extent. Conversely, tooth strength is reduced in proportion to coronal tissue loss, due to either caries lesion or restorative procedures. Therefore, the best current approach for restoring endodontically treated teeth seems to (1) minimize tissue sacrifice, especially in the cervical area so that a ferrule effect can be created, (2) use adhesive procedures at both radicular and coronal levels to strengthen remaining tooth structure and optimize restoration stability and retention, and (3) use post and core materials with physical properties close to those of natural dentin, because of the limitations of current adhesive procedures.