Eur Endod J. 2017; 2(1): 10 | DOI: 10.5152/eej.2017.16062

Influence of Passive Ultrasonic Irrigation on the Removal of Root Canal Filling Material in Straight Root Canals

Carlos Eduardo Da Silveira Bueno¹, Marcos De Azevêdo Rios¹, Marcelo Santos Coelho¹, Alexandre Mascarenhas Villela¹, Alexandre Sigrist De Martin¹, Augusto Shoji Kato¹, Vanessa De Oliveira Alves¹, Rodrigo Sanches Cunha^2
1Department of Endodontics, São Leopoldo Mandic Dental Research Center, Campinas, Brazil
²Division of Endodontics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Objective: This study evaluates the efficacy of passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI) in removing root canal filling material from endodontically treated teeth after using one of two reciprocating systems, Reciproc (VDW, Munich, Germany) or WaveOne (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), or one nickel-titanium (NiTi) rotary system, ProTaper Universal Retreatment (Dentsply Maillefer).
Methods: One hundred and twenty straight root canals of extracted human maxillary incisors were instrumented and then obturated. The specimens were divided into six groups (n=20) as follows: Group R, Reciproc R25 instrument without PUI; Group W, WaveOne Primary instrument without PUI; Group PT, ProTaper Universal Retreatment system without PUI; Group R-PUI, Reciproc R25 with PUI; Group W-PUI, WaveOne Primary with PUI and Group PT-PUI, ProTaper Universal Retreatment system with PUI. After removing the filling material, the teeth were cleaved longitudinally and photographed. The total canal space and remaining material were quantified with the aid of an imaging software tool. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to identify significant differences between the groups.
Results: No statistically significant differences (P>0.05) in residual filling material were observed between the groups.
Conclusion: The use of PUI did not improve the removal of filling material from the root canals, regardless of the previously used instrumentation system.

Keywords: Irrigation, nickel-titanium files, passive ultrasonic irrigation, reciprocating motion, retreatment, root canal therapy.

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