Date of Award

Spring 1999

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Dentistry

First Advisor

Gaffney, Joseph

Second Advisor

Kniaz, Avrom

Third Advisor

Austin, B. P.

Abstract

The most important phase of endodontic treatment is cleaning and shaping of the root canal system. This has traditionally been accomplished with hand instruments. Schilder stated that the most neglected phase of endodontic treatment might be failure of the clinician to maintain the general shape and direction of the original canal. Root canal instrumentation should debride the canal of pulpal tissue, remove microbes and affected dentin, and prepare the canal for obturation. Canals curved in the apical segment of root canals provide a challenge for the endodontist. Complications such as transportation, ledging, and instrument separation often occur in the preparation of curved canals. Various instrumentation techniques have been developed to overcome these complications. Most of these techniques have proved unsatisfactory because they tend to straighten curved canals. Successful use of files for canal preparation requires intimate contact between the dentinal root canal wall and the files' flutes in order to achieve forces adequate to clean and shape the root canal. Lim and Webber speculated that a more flexible file might produce less apical transportation. Walia et al. introduced files made of nickel-titanium, which were three times more flexible than stainless steel....

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