Drying the canals

After instrumentation the canals are dried before the application of the local root canal medicament or making the permanent root filling. The chamber and the coronal canal may be dried by suction with the irrigating syringe. Alternatively, the pulp chamber may be dried with a cotton pellet. The root canals are dried with paper sterile points that correspond to the size of the preparation or are slightly smaller. Usually 2 - 6 points are needed to dry one canal. It is important not to overinstrument with the paper point as this may cause periapical bleeding. It has also been shown that residual cellulose fibres in the periapical area may cause a long lasting inflammatory reaction.