[Assessment of the sealing ability of some root canal sealers applied using lateral condensation and single point...

To evaluate the sealing ability of AH Plus, Epiphany, and EZ-Fill Root Canal Cement and to assess leakage depending on the filling technique.

Eighty extracted human single-root teeth were divided into eight groups often teeth each. Thirty teeth were hand-filed to MAF 40 using a step-back technique and filled by lateral condensation with gutta-percha and AH Plus (group 1), 0.06 single point gutta-percha and AH Plus (group 2), and lateral condensation with Resilon/Epiphany (group 3). Another thirty teeth were prepared to size MAF 35 0.06 by rotary FlexMaster nickel-titanium instruments and filled using the single point technique with 0.06 Resilon/Epiphany (group 4), lateral condensation with gutta-percha and EZ-Fill cement (group 5), and 0.06 single point gutta-percha and EZ-Fill cement (group 6). The remaining twenty teeth served as positive and negative control groups. As positive control (group 7) served canals that were filed with the step-back technique and filled using lateral condensation of gutta-percha points without sealer. The negative control teeth (group 8) were left unfilled but completely covered with nail varnish. Microleakage was evaluated using a dye penetration test (2% solution of methylene blue for 72 h). The teeth were sectioned longitudinally and examined under a stereomicroscope to assess dye penetration. Differences between groups were analyzed statistically with Tamhane's test. The level of significance was taken as p < 0.05.

Linear dye penetration (mean/SD) values (mm) were as follows: group 1 (1.38/2.14); group 2 (1.41/1.54); group 3 (8.98/4.55); group 4 (11.03/3.66); group 5 (1.95/2.22); group 6 (1.79/1.99). Leakage along the full length of the canal was noted in the positive control teeth and no leakage was found in negative control teeth. Tamhane's test showed that the sealing ability was lowest for Resilon/Epiphany. Leakage was highest for this material (groups 3 and 4) and was significantly higher than for teeth filled with gutta-percha combined with AH Plus or EZ-Fill. No significant differences were noted between gutta-percha with AH Plus (groups 1 and 2) and gutta-percha with EZ-Fill cement (groups 5 and 6). No significant difference in leakage existed between lateral condensation and single point groups.

Leakage of the dye was greatest for the Resilon/Epiphany system. The results demonstrate that the sealing technique is without influence on how well the root canals will be sealed.