title: Curved canals: ancestral files revisited.
abstract: The aim of this article is to provide an insight into different techniques of cleaning and shaping of curved root canals with hand instruments. Although a plethora of root canal instruments like ProFile, ProTaper, LightSpeed etc dominate the current scenario, the inexpensive conventional root canal hand files such as K-files and flexible files can be used to get optimum results when handled meticulously. Special emphasis has been put on the modifications in biomechanical canal preparation in a variety of curved canal cases. This article compiles a series of clinical cases of root canals with curvatures in the middle and apical third and with S-shaped curvatures that were successfully completed by employing only conventional root canal hand instruments.
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India. drnidhi_tjain@yahoo.co.in
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Suneja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tushar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003722:Dental Alloys; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology*; D003789:Dental Pulp Exposure / Q000628:therapy; D003790:Dental Pulp Necrosis / Q000628:therapy; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009532:Nickel; D019233:Retreatment; D012388:Root Canal Irrigants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012389:Root Canal Obturation / Q000379:methods; D018915:Root Canal Preparation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012973:Sodium Hypochlorite / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation / Q000379:methods; D014025:Titanium; D014092:Tooth Root / Q000002:abnormalities
chemical_list: D003722:Dental Alloys; D012388:Root Canal Irrigants; C040654:titanium nickelide; D009532:Nickel; D014025:Titanium; D012973:Sodium Hypochlorite