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Evaluation of different methods for the root-end cavity preparation
Marouan G Khabbaz1, Nikolaos P Kerezoudis, Evanthia Aroni
1Department of Endodontics, Dental School, University of Athens, Greece. mhabbaz@cc.uoa.gr
Objective:
The dentinal walls of root-end cavities were examined for the presence of cracks and debris in correlation with the area of the root surfaces that remained after the resection.
Study Design:
One hundred extracted single-rooted teeth were endodontically treated, mounted in acrylic resin blocks, and the apical 2 mm of the root-apex was resected. According to the resected root surface area the teeth were divided into 2 groups having large (>2 mm(2)) or small (<2 mm(2)) surface area. For retrograde cavity preparation 4 devices were used: slow-speed handpiece, diamond coated stainless steel ultrasonic tip, smooth stainless steel ultrasonic tips, and sonic diamond-coated tips. Teeth were examined under a videomicroscope for the presence of fractures, dentin chips, and gutta-percha remnants on cavity walls. Preparation time was also recorded.
Results:
Preparation with smooth stainless steel ultrasonic tips produced few intradentin cracks. Dentin debris was more frequently seen in rotary preparations whereas gutta-percha remnants were seen mainly at ultrasonically prepared teeth.
Conclusions:
Sonic and ultrasonic devices produced cleaner, well-centered, and more conservative root-end cavities than the rotary instrumentation. Cracks do not correlate directly with the surface area of the root-end surfaces but rather with the type of retrotip used to prepare the root-end cavity.
