title: Reducing surface tension in endodontic chelator solutions has no effect on their ability to remove calcium from instrumented root canals.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of reducing surface tension in endodontic chelator solutions on their ability to remove calcium from instrumented root canals. Aqueous solutions containing 15.5% EDTA, 10% citric acid, or 18% 1- hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-bisphosphonate (HEBP) were prepared with and without 1% (wt/wt) polysorbate (Tween) 80 and 9% propylene glycol. Surface tension in these solutions was measured using the Wilhelmy method. Sixty-four extracted, single-rooted human teeth of similar length were instrumented and irrigated with a 1% sodium hypochlorite solution and then randomly assigned (n = 8 per group) to receive a final one-minute rinse with 5 ml of test solutions, water, or the pure aqueous Tween/propylene glycol solution. Calcium concentration in eluates was measured using atomic absorption spectrometry. Incorporation of wetting agents resulted in a reduction of surface tension values by approximately 50% in all tested solutions. However, none of the solutions with reduced surface tension chelated more calcium from canals than their pure counterparts (p > 0.05).
authors.affiliation: Division of Endodontology, Department of Preventive Dentistry, Periodontology, and Cariology, University of Zürich Center for Dental Medicine, Zürich, Switzerland. matthias.zehnder@zzmk.unizh.ch
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zehnder
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schicht
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sener
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmidlin
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002118:Calcium; D002614:Chelating Agents; D019343:Citric Acid; D004492:Edetic Acid; D012968:Etidronic Acid; D006801:Humans; D011136:Polysorbates; D019946:Propylene Glycol; D011897:Random Allocation; D012388:Root Canal Irrigants; D018915:Root Canal Preparation; D016369:Smear Layer; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013500:Surface Tension; D014906:Wetting Agents
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D011136:Polysorbates; D012388:Root Canal Irrigants; D014906:Wetting Agents; D019343:Citric Acid; D019946:Propylene Glycol; D004492:Edetic Acid; D012968:Etidronic Acid; D002118:Calcium