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CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE FILLING OF PULP CANALS.

It Is Necessary to Fill Pulp Canals following the removal of the
pulp, to prevent the exit of bacteria or their products to the tis-
sues beyond the foramen, and to prevent the dissolution of the en-
compassing walls of dentine.
A Pulp Canal Is Ready for, and should receive the root filling
when the canal is void of all else than air and it is not desired to
again reach the pericemental tissues for treatment. To render a
canal void of all else than air is by no means universally easy, yet
it is the object sought and the conditions are not ideal until this
result is obtained. This involves the removal of all pulp tissue,
moisture, bacteria and their products as well as all medicines and
chemicals used in the process of treatment.
The Perfect Pulp Canal Filling is one which permanently occu-
pies the entire space of the pulp canal and closes the apical fora-
men to the exit or entrance of all substances, particularly gases
and fluids.
The Requirements of a Material for Filling a Pulp Canal are
that it be non-soluble in the fluids of the body, that it be non-irri-
tating to soft tissues, permanent as to bulk and consistency, not
subject to putrefaction or chemical changes, capable of easy intro-
duction, and it is an additional virtue if it can be again removed
from the canal after months or even years of occupancy.
The Objective Point in Pulp Canal Filling is in the region of the
foramen. This point must be reached, made surgically and thera-
peutically clean, completely vacated and then permanently sealed
with a suitable material.
Small Pulp Canals and particularly if they are tortuous, are a
hindrance to always attaining ideal results and even, in rare cases,
thwart effort to save teeth thus afflicted.
The Means of Cleansing and Vacating small and tortuous canals
are both mechanical and chemical.
It Is Best Accomplished mechanically by the use of small, flex-
ible, blunt-pointed twisted reamers, which enlarge the canal to the
extent of entrance by cutting away the sides to increase their cal-
iber until broaches of other forms will be admitted. This process
is assisted chemically by flooding the canal with a fifty per cent
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