Cross-sectional assessment of apical dye penetration following three endodontic obturation techniques

This study sought to investigate apical leakage following three endodontic obturation techniques. Fifty-one recently extracted maxillary and mandibular canines were decoronated at the cementoenamel junction (CEJ) level and a size 10 file was passed to the exit of the apical foramen. Working distance was established 0.5 mm from where the file could be seen exiting the apical foramen. All teeth were instrumented using Brasseler Sequence files to a .06 taper size 40 file at working distance. The teeth were randomly divided into three groups: Group A (lateral condensation of gutta-percha with Roth's 811 Elite sealer), Group B (gutta-percha with GuttaFlow sealer), and Group C (Activ GP gutta-percha cone with Activ GP glass ionomer sealer). Two groups of three teeth served as positive and negative controls. There were no significant differences between Groups A and B; however, Group C was significantly different from Groups A and B.