Effect of Different Irrigation Devices on Removal of Smear Layer-A Systematic Review

Introduction: Various irrigation activation methods have been developed in order to provide effective delivery of irrigant. Effective irrigant delivery and agitation are prerequisites to promote root canal disinfection and debris removal from inaccessible areas and improve successful endodontic treatment. Objective: The aim of present review is to compare the effectiveness of different irrigation devices in removal of smear layer in an in vitro study design. Material and methods: MEDLINE, the Cochrane library, Google Scholar and major journals were searched for studies from January 2005 to December 2015 to identify appropriate articles. A comprehensive search was designed, and the articles were independently screened for eligibility by two reviewers. Invitro studies done on human extracted teeth evaluating removal of smear layer using different irrigating devices and using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were included Results: Total 142 articles were searched out of which 66 articles were selected after reading title and abstract. As a second step, full text papers were obtained. Finally a total of 16 articles were included after reading and evaluating full text papers, out of which 5 articles were excluded on basis of insufficient data and 11 articles were selected for final synthesis. Most of the articles supported machine assisted irrigation devices for removal of smear layer which can improve root canal therapy. Conclusion: Machine assisted irrigation devices performed well in removal of smear layer.