Comparison of standard and tapered gutta-percha for assessment of root canal obturation quality by Cone-beam Computed Tomography technique

Abstract

Three-dimensional filling of the root canal system is the main goal of root canal treatment . Different materials and methods have been introduced for this purpose. This study is aimed to evaluate the obturating quality of root canal system by standard and tapered gutta-percha using the cold lateral condensation technique with CBCT. Materials & Methods: Ninty-six single-root human teeth were selected . The crowns were removed and all the canals were prepared using ProTaper rotary files as mentioned by factory's instruction (Maillefer, Dentsply, Switzarland). The teeth were then divided into four experimental (n=24) groups. In the first study group the teeth were obturated with #30 0.02 taper gutta-percha master and #20 0.02 accessory cones . In the second group, the canals were obturated by #30 0.04 taper gutta-percha master cone and #20 0.02 taper accessory cones . Third groupsE teeth were obturated with #30 0.02 taper gutta-percha master cone and MF accessory cones . Finally the obturation in the fourth group was perfomed by #30 0.04 taper gutta-percha master cone and MF accessory cones . All the samples were kept in incubator for three days then they were mounted in plaster cast models . The presence and amount of voids between the core materials and dentinal walls for each sample were measured in axial dimensions of coronal, middle, and apical sections using CBCT. Data were analyzed statistically by Two-way ANOVA using SPSS20. Results: Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there is a significant difference between experimental groups (p<0.05) then we used Scheffe test to analyze the results more precisely , results indicated that there is a significant difference between first group (both standard master and accessory cones) and fourth one (both tapered master and accessory cones) regarding their total voids (p<0.05).The differences between the other groups were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the types of gutta-percha points could affect the quality of root canal fillings. Taperd gutta percha points as regard as coronoapical seal are equal and in some cases are better than standard gutta percha points