Dental dam isolation during endodontic procedures is an essential standard of care to prevent contamination of the root canal system from oral bacteria, prevent aspiration of dental materials and provide a clean operating field. One common procedure for retreatment of root canal treatment (RCT) involves chemically softening gutta percha placement using a chemical agent such as chloroform. A common complication with the use of chloroform is the incompatibility with the materials used in dental dam sheets which are essential for isolation as chloroform contact with human soft tissues must be avoided. The incompatibility can result in distortion causing leakage around the isolated tooth, or weakening of the sheet resulting in tearing of the placed rubber dam. As chloroform is toxic at high doses, any use should be limited to as small a volume as possible.
In this study, we tested the dental dam compatibility with chloroform of a latex dam (BIODAM, 4D Rubber), a non-latex thermoplastic elastomer dam (TPE) (Flexi Dam, Coltene), and a non-latex polyisoprene dam with medium gauge thicknesses (EdgeDam, EdgeEndo). We tested the dental dams in a simulated use case on a first molar RCT, and examined the surface changes after short and long exposures.
Results
The polyisoprene dental dam survived both exposure during a simulated endodontic procedure on a first molar and long-term immersion. The latex and non-latex TPE dam immediately failed during a simulated procedure and after long term immersion. EdgeDam was shown to be very compatible with the use of chloroform.
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