The effectiveness of various disinfectants used as endodontic intracanal medications: an in vitro study

The purpose of this study was to compare in vitro the suitability of four disinfectants as intracanal medications: calcium hydroxide, chlorhexidine gel, chlorhexidine in the form of a controlled-release delivery system (PerioChip), and the combination of chlorhexidine gel with calcium hydroxide. Saline was used as the control. The disinfectants were tested at three different time periods (3, 8, and 14 days) by using human tooth specimens that had been previously contaminated with Enterococcus faecalis. Calcium hydroxide worked very efficiently in killing E. faecalis in the 3-day group and 8-day group. It was not as effective in the 14-day group. The different chlorhexidine formulations were also found to be effective for all time periods. More specifically, the combination of chlorhexidine gel with calcium hydroxide and the chlorhexidine gel worked slightly better than the PerioChip, but there was no significant difference among the medications.