LAUSR

Three-dimensional disinfection is more important than three-dimensional obturation. This letter refreshes and re-emphasizes various concepts on filling lateral canals and apical ramifications. Several questions on the importance of filling these accessory innervations if any, beneficial role of filling accessory canals on treatment outcomes if any are addressed. It is preferable to use a root canal system or a root canal complex, rather than stating with a simple terminology as a root canal. The road from the coronal orifice to the apical terminus is never straight and single. There are many accessory pathways in between and might be numerous at the apical terminus. Accessory or lateral canals are not always radiographically detectable. Clinically complete cleaning of these ramifications without leaving any tissue residue or infected inorganic debris is questionable. It is not possible to thoroughly clean accessory or lateral canals. So, forcing radiopaque material may be a sealer or gutta-percha into these minute accessory pathways and stating it to be the superiority in completely cleaning and disinfecting these areas is inappropriate. Clinically, several questions have to address that, these apical puffs and lateral canal fill are intentional or unintentional? Are they passively filled by the obturating material or being forced into these areas? Complete filling of an accessory or lateral canals is not clinically feasible. The term “Passive Irrigation” is employed in root canal debridement, where the mode of delivery in passive, by slowly injecting an irrigant into a canal, and the hydrodynamic effects of root canal irrigants are exerted mostly on root canal walls inducing least apical forces. Currently employed techniques for thermoplastic root canal obturation uses forces laterally and apically to fill in three dimensions. But the presently proposed “Passive root canal filling” is a hypothesized concept, where we want to emphasize on a concept of root canal obturation,where obturationmaterials can passively be inserted into root canal spaces with least induced apical forces, thereby preventing the excessive extrusion of root canal sealer or gutta-percha.