The efficacy of ultrasonic irrigation to remove artificially placed dentine debris from different-sized simulated plastic root canals

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the influence of diameter and taper of root canals on the effectiveness of ultrasonic irrigation to remove artificially placed dentine debris from simulated uninstrumented extensions in simulated root canals.

Method: Three groups of standard canals were cut in resin blocks using either size 20, .04 taper ProFile instruments, size 20, .06 Greater Taper (GT) rotary instruments or size 20, .08 GT instruments, respectively. Each resin block was then split longitudinally through the canal, forming two halves. In one canal wall, a standard groove 4 mm in length was cut 2-6 mm from the apical end of the canal, to simulate uninstrumented canal extensions. Each groove was filled with dentine debris mixed with 2% NaOCl to simulate a situation when dentine debris accumulates in the uninstrumented canal extensions. Each canal was reassembled by joining the two halves of the resin block by means of wires and sticky wax. In each canal ultrasonic irrigation was performed for 3 min using 2% NaOCl as irrigant. Before and after irrigation, images of each half of the canal with a groove were taken using a microscope and a digital camera, after which they were scanned into a PC as TIFF images. The quantity of dentine debris in the groove was evaluated using a scoring system: the higher the score, the larger the amount of debris remaining. The score data were analysed by means of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests.

Results: After ultrasonic irrigation, the debris score for the size 20,.04 taper group was significantly higher than that for the size 20,.06 group (P = 0.040) and the size 20,.08 group (P = 0.006) groups. However, no significant difference was found between the size 20,.06 and the size 20,.08 groups (P = 0.320).

Conclusion: In simulated plastic root canals, the diameter and taper of root canal influenced the effectiveness of ultrasonic irrigation to remove artificially placed dentine debris.