title: An in vitro study of the comparative effectiveness of obturating curved root canals with gutta-percha cones, silver cones, and stainless steel files.
abstract: The quality of apical seal obtained with gutta-percha cones, silver cones, and stainless steel files was assessed in 120 freshly extracted teeth with moderately or severely curved root canals. Teeth were coated with wax, except in the apical foramen area, and immersed in 2 percent methylene blue solution for 48 hours. Apical leakage was quantitated by a linear measurement of the distance that the dye penetrated along the root canal and by a volumetric measurement of the quantity of dye within the root. There was a highly significant (p less than 0.001) correlation between the two measurements. Root canals filled with silver cones showed significantly less apical leakage than those filled with gutta-percha or stainless steel files, regardless of degree of curvature. For both silver cones and stainless steel files, leakage was less in severely curved roots than in moderately curved roots.
mesh_terms: D001840:Dental Bonding; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006171:Gutta-Percha; D006801:Humans; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials; D012834:Silver; D013193:Stainless Steel
chemical_list: D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials; D013193:Stainless Steel; D012834:Silver; D006171:Gutta-Percha