Chemo-Mechanical disinfection Flashcards
What is the aetiology of endodontic disease?
- Bacterial, fungal and viral origins
- The bacteria and fungi upon invading the root canal space will create inter biofilms
What are biofilms?
- Biofilms are complex communities of bacteria and fungi that are adherent to the dentinal surface and are imbedded within a complex ECM that has been elaborated by the bacterial cells
What are 5 ways in which the biofilm can provide resistance for the microorganisms that reside inside the biofilm?
- Antimicrobials may fail to penetrate beyond the surface layers of the biofilm
- Antimicrobials may be trapped and destroyed by enzymes
- Antimicrobials may not be active against non-growing micro-organisms
- Expression of biofilm-specific resistance genes (e.g. efflux pumps)
- Stress response to hostile environmental conditions (e.g. leading to an over expression of antimicrobial agent-destroying enzymes)
What are the clinical objectives of endodontic therapy? (2)
- Remove canal contents
- Eliminating infection
Root canal complexities enhance the ability of bacteria and fungi to evade our attempts to eradicate them. Give examples of root canal complexities? (4)
- Fins
- Deltas
- Isthmuses
- Lateral canals
What is chemo-mechanical disinfection?
- In this process we employ a mechanical means to debride and shape the canal
- We supplement this with a chemical means in order to try to enhance our biofilm disruption
What are the design objectives for endodontics? (3)
- Create a continuously tapering funnel shape
- Maintain apical foramen in its original position
- Keep apical opening as small as possible
What is the purpose of the mechanical preparation?
- This creates space to allow irrigating solutions and medicaments to more effectively eliminate micro-organisms from the root canal system
What are the stages in mechanical preparation? (7)
- Preparation of tooth
- Access cavity preparation
- Creating straight-line access
- Initial negotiation
- Coronal flaring
- WL determination
- Apical preparation
When doing our mechanical preparation of a root canal why do we start coronally and work our way apically?
- In doing this we manage to eradicate the most significantly infected parts of the root canal surface - removing bacteria and fungi from biofilms coronally
- Then we move apically where there is less infected material
- This way we are less likely to carry infected material further into the tooth
What is the apical preparation size determined by?
- Determined by the initial size of the root canal apex
What is passive exploration of the canal known as?
- Known as gauging
What size is an apical canal preparation usually?
- Usually at least ISO size 25
- Some advocate 30 and larger to allow irrigation
- Canal curvature impacts upon what is achievably safe
What are the ideal properties if an irrigant? (14)
- Low cost
- Washing action
- Reduction of friction
- Improving cutting of dentine by the instruments
- Temperature control
- Dissolution of organic and inorganic matter
- Good penetration within the root canal system
- Killing of planktonic microbes
- Killing of biofilm microbes
- Detachment of biofilm
- Non-toxic to periapical tissue
- Non-allergenic
- Does not react with negative consequences with other dental materials
- Does not weaken dentine
What part of sodium hypochlorite is responsible for antibacterial activity?
- Hypochlorous acid
Why do we use sodium hypochlorite as an irrigant? (5)
- Potent antimicrobial activity
- Dissolves pulp remnants and collagen
- Only root canal irrigant that dissolves necrotic and vital tissue
- Helps disrupt smear layer by acting on organic component
- Dissolves organic tissue
What factors are important to allow NaOCl to function in the root canal system? (5)
- Concentration
- Volume
- Contact
- Mechanical agitation
- Exchange
What % solution of NaOCl do we use in the dental school?
3%
What is the range of % solutions of NaOCl that are used as irrigants?
- Variation in suggested optimum concentration for antibacterial activity
- Presence of organic material affects antibacterial activity
- Used between 0.5-6% solutions
Why would we not use a flat cut needle to deliver irrigant?
- The irrigant will be forced ahead with the needle
- The problem with this is that straight cut needles with this force ahead of the needle we risk the potential of a hypochlorite accident
- Do not want to squirt the hypochlorite through the constriction - risk of this is significant tissue damage
Why is it advantageous to use mechanical agitation to get the irrigant down to the apex?
- This leads to improved irrigation, penetration and biofilm and smear layer disruption
What is an endoactivator?
- Sonic device with fibre tips that go on
- It vibrates
- Don’t usually have these in the dental school so use manual dynamic irrigation
What is manual dynamic irrigation?
- This is where we use a GP point into the canal and start to pump it in and out
What are the possible problems with NaOCl? (3)
- Possible effect on dentine properties
- Inability to remove smear layer itself
- Effect on organic material
What is the smear layer?
- The layer of organic and inorganic material that is laid down when you machine the root surface
- When cutting dentine with the files going to create smear layer - this smear layer is going to potentially limit your disinfection in tubules and will prevent penetration of tubules so reduce the extent of sealing you achieve
To what depth does the smear layer penetrate dentine?
- Superficial 1-5 micrometres with packing into tubules
What are 2 negatives about the smear layer in a root canal?
- Bacterial contamination, substrate and interferes with disinfection
- Prevents sealer penetration
What materials might we use to remove the smear layer in endodontics? (4)
- 17% EDTA
- 10% Citric acid
- MTAD (mixture of a tetracycline isomer, an acid and a detergent)
- Also use sonic and ultrasonic irrigation - can activate it by using these or by using manual dynamic irrigation
What is EDTA short for?
- Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
What is EDTA and what is it capable of doing when used with NaOCl?
- EDTA is a chelating agent that is capable, when used with NaOCl, of removing the smear layer
What % solution of EDTA is used to remove the smear layer?
- 17% solution
How long is the contact time necessary for a 17% solution of EDTA to remove the smear layer?
- 1 minute contact time necessary
When EDTA removes the smear layer what does it do to dentine?
- Opens up the tubules and allows to penetrate the tubules