The Apical Sealing Ability Of GuttaFlow: A Comparative Study In Vitro

Objectives: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the apical sealing ability of GuttaFlow filling systemMethods: 36 of extracted human teeth were used. Human teeth were prepared in a standard manner using M-tow instruments, randomly divided into three groups of 10 teeth each and six teeth were used as positive and negative control groups. The prepared teeth were obturated in different manner, in group A(filled with Guttaflow + one master cone of gutta-percha), group B(filled with Guttaflow + multi-cone gutta-percha using lateral condensation technique), and group C (filled with AH plus paste by lateral condensation). Standard X ray images were taken from a bucco-lingual and mesio-distal direction using RVG system. The quality of obturation in apical third was evaluated separately using: 4- point scales. The apical sealing ability was investigated by dye penetration and examined under SEM. After immersion in Indian ink for 14 days, the teeth were sectioned at three level in apical third level: (I) 1mm coronal to apical foramen, (II) mid-level of apical portion and (III) apical third. The linear extent of dye penetration and the voids were measured with a stereo- microscope. One section of each group which was the most obvious leakage was chosen and exanimate by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Data were analyzed and performed by using Spss v 10 software.Results: 1. Radiovisiography evaluation indicated that three groups had similar quality of root canal filling. However, radiographic score of mesio-distal was significantly higher than that of the bucco-lingual in each group.2. Dye penetration showed that in group A the leakage incidence rates of the sectionsâ… was higher than sectionsâ…¢(p<0.001). Comparing the leakage incidence in three sections between three groups, there was a significant difference between group A and C in sectionsâ… andâ…¡. The apical leakage of group A was higher than that of group C.3. SEM examination found that AH plus sealer bonded to the root canal walls and to the gutta-percha core material seems to be the most suitable. Conclusions: Under the circumstances of this in vitro study, the sealing ability filling with multiple gutta-percha cone and AH-plus sealer or GuttaFlow using lateral condensation technique was statistical better than that of filling with only one master cone and GuttaFow. The findings suggest that multiple gutta-percha cone should be needed using lateral consensation technique when GuttaFlow system was used.