Effectiveness of a mixture of calcium hydroxide and chlorhexidine digluconate

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of a mixture of calcium hydroxide and chlorhexidine digluconate for root canal disinfection.Methods:The 105 subjects for this study were selected from the patients of out-patient clinic.The canal was packed with either 2% chlorhexidine and Ca(OH)2 slurry(35 samples) or aqueous Ca(OH)2 slurry(35 samples) or 2% chlorhexidine(35 samples).The bacterium samples of root canals were obtained in every visit for 3 visits.Every sample in each group harbored enterococcus faecalis was cultured.Then every subject was followed up for one year to get the message about treatment state.Results:After two intracanal disinfection,5 teeth where enterococcus faecalis were found at the initial sampling were successfully disinfected when Ca(OH)2 was mixed with 2% chlorhexidine.Only 3 of the 5 teeth with initial content of enterococcus faecalis were successfully disinfected in Ca(OH)2 group and 4 of 5 teeth with initial content of enterococcus faecalis were successfully disinfected in 2% chlorhexidine group.The infection rate of enterococcus faecalis in mixture medicine group was lower than in other two groups in the second visit and there were statistical differences(P0.05).The failure number in mixture group was less than in other two goups in one-year follow-up,but there was no statistical difference(P0.05).Conclusion:A mixture of 2% chlorhexidine and Ca(OH)2 slurry has effective disinfection for enterococcus faecalis in failure cases of root canal therapy and is worth of further study.