THE QUALITY OF ROOT FILLING IN MANDIBULAR MOLARS WITH ISTHMUSES OBTURATED BY THREE DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES

Abstract

This study was to compare the quality of root canal obturation in mandibular molars with isthmuses obturated by three different techniques using micro CT and glucose filtration model analysis. The isthmuses of sixty human mandibular molars were identified and classified by micro CT. The mesial root canal of each tooth was instrumented with rotary nickel-titanium files. Three groups of twenty roots were root canal obturated using lateral condensation, matched-taper single-cone and continuous wave compaction techniques with gutta-percha and AH plus sealer. All teeth were scanned before, after instrumentation and after obturation by a micro-CT scanner. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the obturated root canals was performed to analyze the volume of the filling materials and voids in the root canal system. Distal root of the specimens were removed after root canal obturation and leakage along root filling was evaluated during 28 days using a modified glucose filtration model. Statistical analysis by Kruskal-wallis at 0.05 level of confidence demonstrated that there was no statistically significant difference in the percentage of filling materials among the three obturation techniques. The presence of voids increased in the main root canal of the lateral condensation group. No leakage was found among the three experimental groups during 28 days.