Comparison of the single cone and cold lateral compaction techniques in sealing 0.04 taper root canal preparations

This study compared the coronal sealing ability of three different combinations of obturation materials and techniques after root canals were prepared with 0.04 taper nickel titanium (NiTi) rotary instruments. This study utilized three experimental groups: Group 1 was obturated with 0.02 taper gutta-percha cones and AH 26 sealer cement, using the cold lateral compaction technique; Group 2 was obturated with 0.02 taper Resilon cones and Epiphany sealer, using the cold lateral compaction technique; and Group 3 was obturated with 0.04 taper Resilon cones and Epiphany sealer, using the single cone technique. Coronal microleakage was evaluated using dye penetration methodology. Microleakage results showed that the single cone Resilon obturation technique showed significantly more linear dye penetration than Resilon or gutta-percha subjected to cold lateral compaction. There was no significant difference between gutta-percha and Resilon when the cold lateral compaction technique was used. The results of this study suggest that the single cone Resilon obturation technique is inferior to cold lateral compaction of Resilon or gutta-percha.