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Comparison of three techniques for preparing oval-shaped root canals
Nessrin A Taha1, Toshiko Ozawa, Harold H Messer
1Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Conservative Dentistry, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan. n.taha@just.edu.jo
Introduction:
This study compared three techniques for preparing oval-shaped root canals: Anatomic Endodontic Technology (AET), hand instruments (Hedström files; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), and rotary nickel-titanium (EndoWave; Morita, Osaka, Japan) instruments with regard to cleaning ability and final canal shape.
Methods:
Three groups each of 13 extracted human mandibular premolars with oval-shaped canals were used. After canal preparation, teeth were sectioned at three levels (coronal, middle, and apical), photographed to assess cross-sectional canal shape, and processed for histologic evaluation of canal wall planing and the presence of debris.
Results:
None of the techniques resulted in completely prepared and cleaned canals. No significant difference was found among the three techniques with regard to untouched surface, cross-sectional area, remaining fins, and canal shape at the three levels. Rotary NiTi instruments resulted in significantly less debris in the apical third compared with AET and hand instrumentation.
Conclusions:
AET did not perform better than rotary NiTi or hand instruments in oval-shaped canals.
