Guided Endodontics: Volume of Dental Tissue Removed by Guided Access Cavity Preparation-An Ex Vivo Study

Guided endodontics emerged as an alternative method capable of providing greater precision and accuracy to endodontic treatments. The aim of the present study was to compare the volume of dental tissue removed after guided endodontic access (GEA) and conventional endodontic access (CEA) to mandibular incisors and upper molars.

Twenty extracted human mandibular incisors and upper molars were selected and submitted to cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) examination. They were divided into 2 groups, G1 (mandibular incisors) and G2 (maxillary molars), and subdivided into G1a (CEA), G1b (GEA), G2a (CEA), and G2b (GEA). The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine files obtained by examining the CBCT scans were transferred to InVesalius software (Renato Archer Information Technology Center, Campinas, SP, Brazil) to calculate the initial volume of each tooth. G1b and G2b teeth were scanned with a device to plan and print the guides. After gaining endodontic access, new CBCT examinations were performed to calculate the final volume of each sample unit. The Student t test for independent samples compared the volumes among the groups.

G1 group had an average volume reduction of 31.667 mm³ (10.62%) using CEA and 26.523 mm³ (10.65%) using GEA with no significant difference among the groups (P = .960). There was an average volume reduction of 62.526 mm³ (5.86%) in the G2 group using CEA and 45.677 mm³ (4.11%) using GEA with a significant difference among the groups (P = .004).

GEA preserved a greater volume of dental tissue in extracted upper human molars than CEA; however, there was no significant difference between CEA and GEA in the volume of dental tissue removed from mandibular incisors.