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How Plazen canal disinfection works and when it is applied · Seongmo Dental Clinic, Sungshin Women’s University Station · Board-certified specialist in Integrated Dentistry
💡 The short answer. Plasma root canal treatment does not replace conventional canal irrigation; it disinfects the canal once more with Plazen plasma after irrigation is finished.
Because it breaks up bacterial films with reactive oxygen species and no heat, a supplementary effect is expected in lateral canals and dentinal tubules that irrigants struggle to reach.
Seongmo Dental Clinic applies it at the disinfection stage of root canal treatment, retreatment and pulpotomy.
Contents
A canal is not a single straight tube. There are lateral branches, branches dividing at the root tip, and the fine tubules in the canal wall — plenty of places for bacteria to hide.
Instruments can only shape the main canal, and chemical irrigants act only as far as the liquid reaches.
A considerable proportion of teeth in which inflammation recurs after root canal treatment do so because of bacteria left in those unreached places.
Plazen is a low-temperature atmospheric plasma device. Electrical energy ionises gas to create reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and these particles break down bacterial membranes.
The temperature barely rises, so there is no thermal damage to the tooth or surrounding tissue, and being a gas it diffuses into narrow spaces that liquid struggles to enter.
Reduction of bacteria within the canal by plasma has been reported in several studies, and Seongmo Dental Clinic uses it not as a replacement for standard irrigation but as supplementary disinfection on top of it.
The sequence is the same: painless anaesthesia, removal of infected nerve, canal shaping and irrigation, disinfection, sealing, crown.
The only difference is that a plasma disinfection step of a few minutes is added after irrigation.
There is almost no difference in what the patient feels. The difference shows in the increased number of cases where the waiting period with medication inside can be kept short.
Once sealing is complete, Seongmo Dental Clinic proceeds to the crown on the same day with in-house Primescan, Primemill and SpeedFire.
The record of a molar diagnosed for extraction, kept through plasma retreatment and finished with a same-day crown, is in our clinical cases.
No. The number of visits is determined by the extent of infection and the number of canals; plasma lightens the disinfection side of that judgement.
A tooth with pus still needs a disinfection period even with plasma. The criteria that set the number of visits are covered separately in how many visits a root canal takes.
Root canal treatment itself is a covered item under national health insurance. Costs relating to plasma disinfection vary with the condition of the tooth and are explained at consultation; non-covered items such as crowns are published on the non-covered fee guide.
Equipment specifications are on the equipment page and root canal treatment in general on the root canal treatment page.
30 seconds on foot from Exit 2 of Sungshin Women’s University Station, +82-2-922-3966.
Does plasma root canal treatment hurt?
No. It is low-temperature plasma in which the temperature barely rises, so there is no pain or sensation of heat, and it runs for a few minutes under anaesthesia.
Is plasma disinfection used in every root canal?
Seongmo Dental Clinic applies it first in retreatment, teeth with inflammation at the root tip, pulpotomy and cases aiming at single-visit treatment, and in ordinary root canals as needed.
Does plasma give a higher success rate?
Reduction of bacteria within the canal has been reported in several studies. Outcomes are decided together by the extent of infection, the seal and the timing of the crown, so disinfection alone does not determine success.
What does plasma root canal treatment cost?
Root canal treatment itself is covered by insurance; costs relating to plasma disinfection vary with the condition of the tooth and are explained at consultation.
Related information
Seongmo Dental Clinic opened in 1998. I have held this position as the third director since April 2022, and I have one standard for choosing equipment: if I would not use it on my own family, I do not use it on my patients.
One more scanner must not mean more treatment. If anything, it should mean cutting less, extracting less and finishing in one visit, from a more accurate original.
The goal is not to be first with new equipment, but to offer the better of what is possible today to the patient sitting in the chair.
📍 3rd floor, 2 Dongsomun-ro 20ga-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul
🚉 30-second walk from Exit 2, Sungshin Women’s University Station (Parking: up to 2 hours at Utah Mall)
📞 +82-2-922-3966
📅 Mon/Wed/Fri 09:30–18:30 · Tue 09:30–20:00 (evening clinic) · Sat 09:30–14:30 (no lunch break) · Weekday lunch 13:00–14:30 · Closed Thu, Sun and public holidays
💬 Booking and enquiries: Naver Booking · Naver Talk · KakaoTalk channel · English page
🟡 Opened in 1998; third-generation director in charge of care since April 2022
⚕️ This article was written for information purposes in line with Korean medical law and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s medical advertising standards.
Equipment specifications given here come from the manufacturer’s official material and the figures on accuracy and comfort are values reported in academic literature; the outcome and course of individual treatment vary with the condition of the mouth.
Please decide on a specific diagnosis and treatment plan after consulting your treating clinician.
This article was written as of August 2026. Equipment specifications and cost-related content are reviewed and updated every three months.
Peer-reviewed sources supporting the explanations above, selected by Dr. Tae-yoon Jang (Director, Seongmo Dental Clinic). Individual results may vary.
