Mechanical Behaviour of Three Heat-Treated NiTi Glide Path Systems at Simulated Intracanal Temperature

This study investigated the cyclic fatigue and torsional resistance of Traverse, ProGlider (PG) and WaveOne Gold Glider (WOGG) glide path files (n = 30 each). They were tested for cyclic fatigue and torsional resistance at a simulated intracanal temperature to determine the number of cycles to fracture (NCF) and the maximum torque, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry testing was done to analyse phase transformation temperatures. The WOGG had a significantly higher NCF than PG and Traverse (p < 0.05). Traverse had the highest torque at failure followed by WOGG and PG (p < 0.05). The WOGG and PG exhibited temperatures for Martensite start and Austenite finish higher than the intracanal temperature, whereas those of Traverse were lower. At simulated intracanal temperatures, the Traverse system was highly resistant to torsion but did not show superior resistance to cyclic fatigue compared to the other tested systems.