Professional Documents
Culture Documents
01 The objectives
02 The means
03 The procedures
04 The protocols
01
The objectives
Why do we need irrigation in endodontics?
The root canal system contains vital and/or necrotic pulp substrates and
microorganisms and their toxins in case of disease
• Cleansing effect
• Lubrication of endodontic instruments and root canal system,
• Dissolution of inorganic and organic substances
• Antimicrobial action
• Absence of cytotoxicity
• Inefficacy in the alteration of dental microstructure
02
The means What are the main irrigants used in
endodontic therapy and their means of
delivery?
The main irrigants used as of now:
• Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl)
• Ethylene-Diamine-Tetra-Acetic acid (EDTA)
• Chlorhexidine
• Citric acid
• Normal saline
• Water
Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl)
• The most widely used irrigant
• Used at concentrations ranging between 0.5% and 5.25% (C.E Radcliffe et Al 2004)
• NaOCl is the only irrigant that can dissolve the necrotic and the less vital pulp
• It fails to dissolve innorganic material (smear layer)
• Preheating it increases its dissolving and desinfection effects (George Sirtes et al
2005)
• Used to dry the canal walls and remove any solutions from dentinal tubules
Vapor lock
The disolving reaction of sodium hypochlorite creates gas bubbles that can
get trapped in the apical portion of the canal. Therefore any form of
aggitation will remove the trapped gas making sure there is a constant
contact between canal walls and the irrigants
Vapor lock
Evaluation of irrigant flow in the root canal using different needle types by an unsteady
computational fluid dynamics model. C. Boutsioukis et al 2009
Manual dynamic activation
• Master gutta percha cone is held using
forceps 1ml short of WL