A comparison of amounts of apically extruded debris using handpiece-driven nickel-titanium instrument systems

One hundred single-rooted teeth were instrumented with Lightspeed, Profile .04 Taper Series 29, and NT McXIM instruments according to the recommendations of the manufacturers, and Flex-R files using the balanced force technique. Groups were comparable with respect to average curvature, canal length, and major and minor foramen size. A standard amount of irrigant was used for each tooth. Apically extruded debris and irrigant were collected and weighed. Debris was desiccated before being weighed. There were no statistically significant differences among the four groups with respect to total extruded debris. The amount of extruded debris was positively correlated with the amount of irrigant extruded. Factors such as canal length, curvature, and foramen size did not affect the amount of debris extruded.