Reduced long-term sealing ability of adhesive root fillings after water-storage stress

This study was designed to compare in vitro the short-term and long-term ability to prevent through-and-through fluid movement along Resilon/Epiphany root fillings. A sample of 40 human upper incisors were prepared and assigned to experimental groups of 20 teeth each, designated as G1, Resilon/Epiphany, and G2, gutta-percha/AH Plus. Additional 10 teeth were used as controls. Each tooth was assembled in a hermetic cell to allow the evaluation of fluid filtration. After the root filling procedures, the filled roots were stored at 37 degrees C and 100% humidity for 7 days to allow setting of the sealer. Forthwith, the teeth were submitted to the first fluid flow measurement. Leakage was measured by the movement of an air bubble traveling within a pipette connected to the teeth. Shortly after the measurements, the teeth were detached from the hermetic cell and then stored in water for 14 months at 37 degrees C. At this moment, fluid filtration was re-measured. Both Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were applied to detect differences between the experimental groups. No differences were found between the experimental groups during the immediate measure (P > .05), whereas Resilon/Epiphany group displayed significantly more fluid movement than the gutta-percha/AH Plus group after 14 months of water storage (P < .05). The water-storage stress had no significant effect on the sealing ability of the gutta-percha/AH Plus root fillings (P > .05). The main point of our study is the fact that long-term sealing was compromised in the Resilon/Epiphany samples, when exposed to long-term water storage.