The root canal is that portion of the dental pulp cavity that extends from the pulp chamber to the apical foramen. A calcified root canal is seen as a diminution of the diameter of the root canal because of calcification.
Calcified root canals pose as a big problem to most dentists and hygienists.
What Causes Calcification Of Root Canal?
Calcification by and large occurs in a coronal to apical direction. The calcification is worst in the coronal portion of the root canal. When you move apically, the root canal becomes more effortlessly navigable. The clinical implication is it must be easier to navigate the root canal with the apical progression of hand files.
Frequently seen causes and etiological factors for calcified root canals are:
- Long standing infection in the mouth, teeth and gums.
- As a consequence of ageing.
- Prolonged injury / trauma.
- Dental decay.
- Dental fillings and / or crowns which exert force and pressure on to the tooth as well as the root canal for a protracted period of time.
- Recession of the gums.
- Having a non-vital tooth without any treatment done for several years.
The root canal begins to calcify in the coronal portion first. Thereafter the apical portion starts to calcify.
How To Find And Treat A Calcified Root Canal?
You need an expert to manage the condition. Visit your dentists and confer with him the best line of treatment that you need to adopt to treat the case successfully. He may order a few dental x-rays to verify which tooth and root canal have been afflicted. Ascertaining the location of the calcified root canal is a little tricky.
- Anterior root canals that have been calcified are relatively easier to locate and manage.
- There’s trouble in the posterior ones, where it is difficult to cut over the dentin.
- Your dentist will take a radio-graph; settle on the precise location and then start cutting over the dentin.
- The dentist needs to make use of a rubber dam. A rubber dam and a surgical microscope for perfect imagining and lighting, give the most optimal visual command over the root canal.
- Once it has been located, the opening of the root canal needs to be properly isolated.
- There is a primary and a secondary dentin; in the middle of the secondary dentin, the calcified root canal is usually situated.
- Using a Micro Canal Opener, the dentist then starts exploring the area well.
- With the help of Files and Reamers, the calcified root canal is reached. In case the file comes out of the root canal twisted or deformed, you must discard it and use a new file. Sharp new files are vital in order to break through calcification.
- Your dentist may apply a De-calcifier to soften the calcified portion and make the procedure easier.
- The clinician ought to be very cautious to have a sufficient supply of an irrigant. With each introduction of the small files, the irrigant is inserted in to the root canal. When the file is removed, the space it occupied gets filled with the irrigant present in the chamber reservoir. The optimal irrigant would be 5.25 % sodium hypochlorite, given that it dissolves the pulpal tissue, is clear and also has anti-bacterial properties.