The adequacy or inadequacy of temporary filling materials for sealing root canal dressings has been little studied. It has generally been assumed that any commercially marketed plastic or cementitious material put up for the purpose can be safely used as a temporary filling and will form a hermetic seal. While a bacteria-tight seal may not be required under certain circumstances, the necessity for having an hermetic seal during root canal treatment is obvious. For this reason, a study was made of the permeability to dyes, to saliva, and to test organisms, of the materials more commonly used as temporary fillings. The materials examined were temporary stopping, base plate gutta percha, oxyphosphate of zinc cements, Pro Tem, and zinc oxideeugenol cement. Combinations of these materials were also tried, such as a double layer of gutta percha, and a layer of oxyphosphate cement over base plate gutta percha.
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Louis I. Grossman (1939) studied this question.