Relationship between the Depth of Penetration and Fracture Resistance of Various Sealers: A Comparative Study

The aim of this in vitro study was to estimate the penetration depth and fracture resistance of three different sealers and to verify the relationship between the penetration depth and fracture resistance.

Sixty single-rooted teeth were selected and root canal preparation was done. After the instrumentation, the teeth were divided into three groups of 20 each. The groups were then obturated with gutta-percha (GP)-AH Plus sealer, Resilon-Real Seal, and propoint-bioceramic sealers, respectively. Ten teeth from each group were sectioned at three different regions (i.e., coronal, middle, and apical thirds of the root canal) and were viewed under a confocal microscope to determine the penetration depth of the sealer. The remaining samples were subjected to fracture resistance under a universal testing machine and the statistical analysis was done by using one-way ANOVA and post hoc Bonferroni tests.

Propoint-bioceramic group showed the highest fracture resistance values followed by GP-AH Plus sealer and Resilon-Real seal groups with no significant difference noticed between them. Depth of penetration was greater for GP-AH Plus sealer, propoint-bioceramic, with no significant difference followed by the Resilon-Real seal group.

The newer obturating material propoint-bioceramic group showed a greater fracture resistance. No correlation could be established between the depth of sealer penetration and fracture resistance.

Fracture resistance of tooth obturated with propoint-bioceramic sealer combination is significantly greater than GP-AH Plus and Resilon-Real seal combination, thereby showing propoint-bioceramic as a promising obturating material.