The antibacterial action of sodium hypochlorite and EDTA in 60 cases of endodontic therapy

Summary. In this study the antibacterial effect of irrigating infected root canals with 0.5 and 5 per cent sodium hypochlorite solutions was evaluated clinically. The results indicated that there was no difference between the antibacterial effect of these two solutions. The combined use of EDTA and S per cent sodium hypochlorite solution was more efficient than the use of sodium hypochlorite solutions alone. An important observation was that bacteria surviving instrumentation and irrigation rapidly increased in number in the period between appointments when no intracanal medicament was used.