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Effectiveness of three instrumentation systems to remove Enterococcus faecalis from root canals
M Matos Neto1, S S F Santos, M V P Leão
1Basic Science Institute, University of Taubaté, Taubaté, São Paulo, Brazil.
Aim:
To assess the effectiveness of three systems of mechanical preparation to reduce Enterococcus faecalis within root canals.
Methodology:
Twenty-four human single-rooted canine teeth were standardized to a length of 17 mm and the canal contents removed using a size 20 K-file, as the last apical file. After irrigation and sterilization, the canals were contaminated with E. faecalis and incubated for 21 days at 37 °C with 5% CO(2). Then, the teeth were divided into three groups for mechanical preparation with: ProTaper rotary system, ProTaper manual system and manual K-files. Samples of the root canal contents, before and after the debridement, were collected with sterile paper points for 1 min. Then, the samples were diluted and plated in Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) agar. The colony-forming units were counted and the percentage reduction calculated. The reduction and log CFU mL(-1) were compared between groups using Wilcoxon nonparametric test and two-way analysis of variance, respectively.
Results:
There was a significant reduction in the number of CFU/mL (P = 0.000) before and after debridement for all the systems used. However, there was no significant difference between the systems.
Conclusion:
All the three instrumentation systems reduced E. faecalis counts to a similar degree.
