Influence of Different Coronal Preflaring Protocols on Electronic Foramen Locators Precision

Area of Science:

• Endodontics
• Dental Materials and Devices
• Dental Anatomy

Background:

• Accurate determination of root canal length is crucial for successful endodontic treatment.
• Electronic foramen locators (EFLs) are widely used to aid in length determination.
• Coronal preparation techniques may influence the accuracy of EFLs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of different coronal preflaring protocols (absent, conservative, conventional) on the accuracy of three EFL devices (Root ZX II, Raypex 6, RomiApex A-15).
• To assess how coronal preparation influences the precision of electronic foramen locators.

Main Methods:

• Twenty mandibular molars with Vertucci's type IV mesial roots were used.
• Real canal lengths were measured under magnification after sequential coronal preflaring (conservative #25/.06, conventional #25/.12).
• Electronic measurements were taken using three EFLs (Root ZX II, Raypex 6, RomiApex A-15) at each stage, with error calculated against real lengths.

Main Results:

• Conventional coronal preflaring significantly reduced EFL error (p<0.05), unlike conservative preflaring.
• Best precision values were achieved with conventional preflaring: 90% (Root ZX II), 97.5% (Raypex 6), and 92.5% (RomiApex A-15).
• No significant differences in EFL performance were found between devices across protocols (p>0.05).

Conclusions:

• The evaluated electronic foramen locators demonstrated precision in length determination.
• Coronal preflaring protocols significantly influence EFL accuracy.
• The conventional (less conservative) preflaring protocol yielded superior accuracy for electronic foramen locators.