Thanks a lot, Vladimir
"Russian Red."
Maybe you won’t ever retreat a tooth. Maybe you're an endodontist that retreats in your sleep. In any situation, you need to be aware of red teeth.
And they are coming right to your office from Russia.
Resorcinol-Formaldehyde (RF) -a spelling nightmare and also a pain for anyone trying to take this out of canals.
As the name implies, it's made up of some not so great stuff. This alternative root canal filling material has some serious traction in Eastern Europe, China and Russia. This is what you should do if it shows up in your dental chair…
Refer. Refer. Refer.
⚠Warning: your friendly endodontist will not be pleased when this tooth walks into the office
The RF resin material can be described as “removing a brick”. While the general dentists out there probably won’t tackle this retreat, you should still know about the dental material .
Here's a few clinical pearls to consider:
- 🔴Russian Red. This material has the tendency to stain teeth a light pink to dark burgundy color- hence the "official name"
- 💀Radiopaque. Some RF treated teeth will look like the canals weren't even filled.
- 🧱Brick. Completely polymerized RF resin can be difficult to impossible to remove.
- 🔨Broken. Files are often purposefully broken in the canal in order to properly delivery the resin filler.