Efficacy of Smear Layer Removal of Human Teeth Root Canals Using Herbal and Chemical Irrigants: An In Vitro Study

Objectives Over many years, intracanal irrigants have removed smear layers during routine root canal therapy. The efficacies of conventional endodontic chemical are documented, but limited research is available on herbal irrigants' role in the therapy irrigation protocol. This study aimed to evaluate layer removal efficacy, namely, 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), green tea extract, and Triphala using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Methods Fifty freshly extracted human permanent maxillary mandibular single-rooted teeth were collected from Oral Surgery Department Regional Dental College (RDC), Guwahati, India. samples divided into five groups with 10 each: Group A: sterile distilled water (negative control), B: NaOCl, C: EDTA, D: tea, E: (citric acid). Each tooth was then longitudinally split prepared for SEM inspection under 1000X magnification. comparison scores between done by Kruskal-Wallis test Mann-Whitney test, significance level set at p<0.01. Results overall mean those different portions shows that C has lowest score, followed E. pairwise difference other four statistically significant (p-value<0.05). Moreover, overall, coronal, middle, apical A E highly (p-value<0.001). Conclusions highest efficacy observed treated EDTA. clearing significantly better than removal.