On a small scale, iodoform can be used as a disinfectant. It was also used as a component in the 20th century in medicines for healing and antiseptic dressing of sores and wounds. It was used for sterilizing the instruments that are used for surgery.
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Iodoform gauze is used in clinical practice for treatment of infected wounds. However, effectiveness and action mechanism of iodoform gauze for removal of necrotic tissue are unknown. We therefore employed case control and biochemical studies in order to clarify the pharmacological activity of iodoform gauze. A clinical study demonstrated that treatment with iodoform gauze removed necrotic tissue more effectively than treatment with conventional ointments. More than 60% of iodoform gauze-treated wounds were completely debrided within 2 weeks. Consistent with the clinical observation, biochemical analyses revealed clear differences in wound fluid proteins after treatment with iodoform gauze or conventional gauze. The amount of macroaggregates of type I collagen from wounds were remarkably decreased in iodoform gauze. Moreover, iodoform gauze and iodoform itself released non-aggregative type I collagen from necrotic debris in vitro. Taken together, we conclude that iodoform gauze efficiently removes necrotic tissue by its lytic activity for collagen fibers
The exposed sub-lethal doses determined after LD50 range from 2.1 to 2.9 and 77.5 to 87.5 mg/L for iodoform and chloroform,
Zinc oxide eugenol (ZOE) has traditionally been used as a root filling material in primary teeth pulpectomy. Calcium hydroxide and iodoform (Ca(OH)2/iodoform) may have advantages as a root canal filling material to evaluate treatment success of Ca(OH)2/iodoform pulpectomy in primary teeth compared with ZOE based on clinical and radiographical criteria. All human clinical studies reporting clinical and radiographical outcomes of Ca(OH)2/iodoform compared with ZOE in primary teeth pulpectomy were identified in digital bibliographic databases.
