REVIEW ARTICLE
Root Canal Irrigation: Chemical Agents and Plant Extracts Against Enterococcus faecalis
Letizia Borzini, Roberta Condò, Paolo De Dominicis, Adriano Casaglia*, Loredana Cerroni
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2016Volume: 10
First Page: 692
Last Page: 703
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-10-692
DOI: 10.2174/1874210601610010692
Article History:
Received Date: 18/04/2016Revision Received Date: 12/10/2016
Acceptance Date: 02/11/2016
Electronic publication date: 19/12/2016
Collection year: 2016
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background:
There are various microorganisms related to intra and extra-radicular infections and many of these are involved in persistent infections. Bacterial elimination from the root canal is achieved by means of the mechanical action of instruments and irrigation as well as the antibacterial effects of the irrigating solutions. Enterococcus faecalis can frequently be isolated from root canals in cases of failed root canal treatments. Antimicrobial agents have often been developed and optimized for their activity against endodontic bacteria. An ideal root canal irrigant should be biocompatible, because of its close contact with the periodontal tissues during endodontic treatment. Sodium hypoclorite (NaOCl) is one of the most widely recommended and used endodontic irrigants but it is highly toxic to periapical tissues.
Objectives:
To analyze the literature on the chemotherapeutic agent and plant extracts studied as root canal irrigants. In particularly, the study is focused on their effect on Enterococcus faecalis.
Method:
Literature search was performed electronically in PubMed (PubMed Central, MEDLINE) for articles published in English from 1982 to April 2015. The searched keywords were “endodontic irrigants” and “Enterococcus faecalis” and “essential oil” and “plant extracts”.
Results:
Many of the studied chemotherapeutic agents and plant extracts have shown promising results in vitro.
Conclusion:
Some of the considered phytotherapic substances, could be a potential alternative to NaOCl for the biomechanical treatment of the endodontic space.
