Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jan 26;46(1):e10.
doi: 10.5395/rde.2021.46.e10. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Clinical efficacy of activated irrigation in endodontics: a focused review

Amelia Wan Tin Cheung  1 , Angeline Hui Cheng Lee  1 , Gary Shun Pan Cheung  1
Affiliations
Review

Clinical efficacy of activated irrigation in endodontics: a focused review

Amelia Wan Tin Cheung et al. Restor Dent Endod. .

Abstract

Root canal debridement, which includes the removal of infected tissues and microbial biofilms, is considered the corner stone of root canal treatment. Chemical adjuncts play a multitude of functions in this regard, as tissue solvents, antimicrobial agents and for removing the smear layer. These adjuncts (irrigants) are usually delivered using a syringe and needle. With increasing knowledge of the complexity of root canal anatomy and tenacity of microbial biofilms, the need for strategies that potentiate the action of these irrigants within the root canal system cannot be overemphasized. Several such activated irrigation strategies exist. The aim of this review is to comprehensively discuss the different irrigant activation methods from the context of clinical studies.

Keywords: Microbial reduction; Pain; Root canal treatment; Sodium hypochlorite; Sonic; Ultrasonic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. A flowchart of the article selection process.
*Four studies investigated the effects on 2 outcome measures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Haapasalo M, Shen Y, Qian W, Gao Y. Irrigation in endodontics. Dent Clin North Am. 2010;54:291–312. - PubMed
    1. Byström A, Sundqvist G. The antibacterial action of sodium hypochlorite and EDTA in 60 cases of endodontic therapy. Int Endod J. 1985;18:35–40. - PubMed
    1. Zehnder M. Root canal irrigants. J Endod. 2006;32:389–398. - PubMed
    1. Neelakantan P, Cheng CQ, Mohanraj R, Sriraman P, Subbarao C, Sharma S. Antibiofilm activity of three irrigation protocols activated by ultrasonic, diode laser or Er:YAG laser in vitro . Int Endod J. 2015;48:602–610. - PubMed
    1. Byström A, Sundqvist G. Bacteriologic evaluation of the efficacy of mechanical root canal instrumentation in endodontic therapy. Scand J Dent Res. 1981;89:321–328. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources