Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
by Dr Deborah Elijah, Precision Dental Care @ Kingston, ACT
UltraCal XS is a calcium hydroxide paste that is used after the instrumentation phase of root canal treatment. It kills the remaining microbes inside the root canal prior to placing the filling material.
What’s good about it
The root canal is prepared by clearing the debris from the walls using files and irrigation. Once the canal is dry, and prior to placing the temporary filling, the UltraCal XS paste is placed inside the roots to kill any remaining microbes.
This product comes with needle-like tips that effectively deliver the calcium hydroxide paste from the apex of the tooth all the way through the roots to the coronal root canal opening. This ensures the full root is filled with the medication and no spots have been missed.
It’s an effective product and while the formulation is pretty standard between brands, the delivery method of this one is excellent. The other benefit is that there is much less waste with this product. Other brands require the paste to be dispensed onto a mixing pad and there’s always a lot left over. UltraCal XS allows for virtually all the paste to be used.
I use this product with nearly every root canal except when a tooth has a lot of pain and then I’ll use Ledermix.
What’s not so good
Calcium hydroxide dries very quickly and if the tip is placed on too early, sometimes the material doesn’t come through the needle, especially with a smaller gauge tip. A guide on how to avoid this drying so it continues to flow until the tube is finished would be helpful.
