Microleakage of super-EBA with and without finishing as determined by the fluid filtration method

Super-EBA (SEBA) has been used as a root-end filling material because of its superior sealing properties and clinical success. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether finishing SEBA after it had set would affect the apical seal. Sixty-five extracted maxillary anterior teeth were instrumented and obturated with a single gutta-percha master cone. The root end was resected, and a 3 mm deep root-end preparation was made using ultrasonic tips. Teeth were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 received SEBA and was finished with a 30-flute high-speed finishing bur. Group 2 received SEBA, which was cold-burnished with a ball burnisher. Temporary Endodontic Restorative Material was used as the negative control in group 3. Microleakage (microliter/min) was measured under 10 psi using the fluid filtration method at days 1, 7, 30, 90, and 180. SEBA/finished exhibited significant microleakage at day 1 when compared with the burnished group. The differences in leakage were not significant at any other time period.