ABSTRACT
Shaping and cleaning a root canal system along with the preservation of the surrounding
periodontal tissues are the principal goals of an endodontic treatment. While most
of the attention is paid to the mechanical aspects of a root canal treatment, an essential
feature of it is the irrigation. All over the years, many materials have been used
to clean the root canal of a tooth, and certainly, the sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl)
and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid solutions are the most used and most reliable
ones. Putting them inside of a canal is mostly done using a normal syringe, but many
techniques have been involved in this process, including the use of sonic/ultrasonic
instruments, the use of shaping files, and even laser, to increase the efficacy of
irrigant solutions, especially of NaOCl one. Each one of this technique faces some
disadvantages, just as the vapor lock effect and the apical extrusion, and has a different
action on features such as the reaction rate and the shear stress of an endodontic
irrigant solution. In this narrative review, we describe the different features of
many irrigant solutions and the different ways of upgrading their efficacy in the
cleaning of a root canal system, with the use of tables to summarize the entire description,
and drawing the readers' attention to a photographic illustration for a better understanding
of the topic.
Key words:
Canal disinfection - citric acid - endodontics - ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid -
irrigants - root canal therapy - sodium hypochlorite
