Irrigants in endodontic treatment

Abstract

The aim of root canal treatment is to remove virulence factors from this system. Cleaning and shaping of the root canal are at the outmost importance in endodontic treatment. Canal irrigation during the process of cleaning and shaping can lead to the elimination of microorganism, which are not removable through physical methods. Moreover, during the preparation of root canal, manually and by rotary instruments, the smear layer is created that must be eliminated by irrigants. In the present review article, irrigants were investigated in terms of chemical and biological features and their eff ective and safe ways of usage, along with some information that have been proposed on recent developments of root canal solutions. Furthermore, this topic has been studied regarding its eff ect on microorganisms and smear layer. In the present article, a review has been conducted through libraries, PubMed, ISI Web of science, Scopus websites, and Google using keywords such as endodontic treatment, intracanal irrigant, anti-bacterial, chlorhexidine, smear layer, and sodium hypochlorite. Diff erent materials have been introduced as root canal irrigants. Although sodium hypochlorite is the most common material used in the endodontic treatment against root