European Society of Endodontology Excited about PIPS® Root Canal Therapy
21 September 2011
Opening lectures were given by international ‘gurus' of endodontics. Markus Haapasalo (Canada) addressed in great detail the issue of efficacy and safety of irrigation, Roeland De Moor (Belgium) talked about lasers and their use in enododntics, and Ben Johnson (USA) presented the solution to the problem: the PIPS® method, which meets all the criteria for successful treatment. As Johnson explains in his abstract: "We've known that bacteria is the cause of failure in endodontics for over 50 years. Finally, ‘instead of just talking about it', we have the ability to debride and disinfect the root canal system. When these techniques are implemented into our clinical practice, I feel we can realistically expect our success rate to increase dramatically when treating necrotic teeth." During his presentation, Johnson showed the PIPS® method with a demonstration video, which impressed the fully packed conference room.
Prof. Giovanni Olivi gave a presentation on the "Effectiveness of the Erbium:YAG laser activation in removing the smear layer after root canal instrumentation, using PIPS® technique". Together with Enrico DiVito, Stefano Benedicenti and Vasilios Kaitsas, Prof. Olivi's aim was to analyze in vitro, the debriding ability of an Er:YAG laser system equipped with a new design radial and stripped tip of 400 micron diameter, using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The study showed that standardized instrumentation, followed by a final Er:YAG laser irradiation in ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) wet canals, resulted in more cleaning of root canal walls and a higher quantity of open tubules in comparison with the traditional irrigation method.
Photon Induced Photoacoustic Streaming (PIPS®) - available only with Fotona lasers - is a revolutionary method for cleaning and debriding the root canal system using Er:YAG laser energy at sub-ablative power levels. The containment of the shockwaves thoroughly streams the solutions through the entire canal system, enhancing their effectiveness. The canals and subcanals are left clean and the dentinal tubules are free of smear layer. PIPS® is receiving immense attention from the dental community because it is more effective and less invasive, as it preserves more tooth endoskeleton than traditional techniques. Additionally, there is no risk of tip breakage from curved canals and less filing and soaking time for chemical agents, which saves 20-30 minutes per canal.
Click here to read more about Johnson's presentation and Prof. Olivi's presentation at ESE Rome.
Click here for more information about PIPS® Method.
