Intracanal irrigants in pediatric endodontics: A review

Abstract

Bacteria are the major cause of pulpal and periapical diseases. Complexity of the root canal system and formation of smear layer during instrumentation of root canal are the major obstacles for complete elimination of bacteria during cleaning and shaping of root canal systems. The bacterial population of infected root canals can be significantly reduced by using saline irrigation; however, irrigants that have antibacterial effects have clearly superior effectiveness in bacterial elimination when compared with saline solution. The irrigants that are most commonly used include saline, sodium hypochlorite, chlorhexidine, EDTA and MTAD. None of the irrigants has optimal properties to be termed an ideal irrigant. Different irrigating solutions reported in literature have been reviewed here.