Consideration of the therapeutic potential of irrigants in endodontic therapy

Abstract

© 2018, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science. All rights reserved. Th e main objective of endodontic treatment is to remove vital and necrotic remnants of pulp tissue and microorganisms and their toxic products from the root canal. During chemo-mechanical endodontic preparation, a smear layer is formed on the wall of the canals. Due to an inability to remove all tissue remnants and the smear layer from the root canal by mechanical instrumentation, it is necessary to use irrigation to ensure suffi cient cleaning and disinfection of the largest part of the root canalicular system. Th e most commonly used irrigants are sodium hypochlorite (Na-OCl), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), citric acid and chlorhexidine (CHX). Recently, the irrigants QMix and MTAD have been introduced to the market. Th ey are a mixture of diff erent components having antimicrobial, organolytic and mineralytic eff ects on canal detritus and the smear layer. Th is review article investigates irrigants in terms of the nature of their eff ect, their effi ciency, optimal concentration, and method of use, and the interactions between the irrigants most commonly used in endodontic therapy are discussed, with special emphasis on QMix and MTAD.