SP-01 The Physics and Application of Cavitation for Endodontic Irrigation

CE Hours: 1.0

Description: MIE access and canal preparations have been greatly advanced by the introduction of various NaOCl enhancement  methods to endodontic irrigation. The most powerful, efficient, and effective of them--multi-sonic, laser, and closed-system negative pressure irrigation devices--are based on cavitation physics. On a molecular level, cavitation turns out to be one of the most powerful forces in nature and as it generates sonic energy, it is ideally suited for cleaning the smallest regions of the smallest root canal preparations, often without any instrumentation at all. This presentation will illuminate the physical forces brought to bear by cavitation and the clinical efficacies delivered when that energy is applied to NaOCl in human root canal systems. Most advantageous in the pursuit of MIE, cavitated NaOCl is seen to work as effectively or more effectively in root canal preparations that are left in their original apical morphologic state than those which have been over-instrumented, due mostly to the narrowing confines of tapered root canal preps which amplifies this sound energy when projected from coronal to apical regions of the RCS.

Learning Objectives:  

• Describe how cavitation of NaOCl is ideally suited to cleaning minimally-invasive root canal preparations.
• Discriminate between methods of cavitating sodium hypochlorite, specifically their actual methods of action--beyond marketing claims by manufacturers--but also in their safety of application.
• Choose an enhanced irrigation protocol that will deliver success at the lowest device cost and with the least amount of chairside time spent.