Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To study the application and biocompatibility of different root canal filling materials in the root canal therapy, and to find a reasonable filling material.
METHODS: Using “root canal therapy, filling materials, pulposis, periapical disease” in Chinese as the key words, a computer search was performed in Pubmed database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed) and the VIP Database (http://www.cqvip.com/) between January 2001 and December 2009 for articles about the root canal filling materials and their biocompatibility, excluding repeated studies or Meta analysis. Totally 36 documents were retained for further analysis, and literature type includes animal experiments and clinical research.
RESULTS: The common root canal filling materials can be classified into the paste and rigid ones according to their characters. Rigid type of root canal filling materials include gutta percha point and silver cone, etc., dental adhesive is commonly used in clinical application, occupying the main root canal space, but this type of root canal filling materials can not completely fill root canal, and should combine with paste materials, and sealers in a paste to fill root canal should not be too much, its role is only to fill the gap between gutta-percha, between gutta-percha and root wall. Paste type of root canal filling materials are made from the powder and liquid, they could harden after filling. The zinc oxide, calcium hydroxide or iodoform are mostly used for the matrix of pastes, common pastes are zinc oxide eugenol paste, calcium hydroxide paste, and Vitapex paste.
CONCLUSION: There is no one kind of material that can fully meet the requirements, the application of existing materials should be accompanied by efforts to develop new materials, thus meeting the clinical requirements.