Surface porosity of hand-mixed, syringe-mixed and encapsulated set endodontic sealers.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to investigate the surface porosity of hand-mixed, syringe-mixed and encapsulated set endodontic sealers using image analysis.


METHODS
Eight different root canal sealers (AD Seal/Meta Biomed; AH Plus/Dentsply; MM Seal/Micromega; AH Plus Jet/Dentsply; EndoREZ/Ultradent; Epiphany/Pentron; GuttaFlow/Coltène; RealSeal/Sybron Endo) were prepared in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations and dispensed into plastic rings (n = 10/group). Following set of the specimens, scanning electron photomicrographs of the sealer surfaces were taken at standard magnification. The area fraction and the minimum-maximum diameters of surface pores were calculated on the micrographs using ImageJ open-source image analysis software. Statistical comparisons were made between the sealers with respect to the area fractions and number of pores (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < .05).


RESULTS
The endodontic sealers differed significantly in both the percentage of area fraction and pore count (P < .001). The surface porosity of the methacrylate-based sealers Epiphany and RealSeal were significantly lower than those of resin- and silicone-based sealers. With the exception of AD Seal, hand-mixed sealers displayed significantly higher surface porosity than those of syringe-mixed ones (P < .001). The encapsulated sealer GuttaFlow exhibited the highest surface area fraction of pores.


CONCLUSIONS
The mixing method influences the surface porosity of set endodontic sealers.
Uyanik
M Ozgur
MO
Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. uyanikmo@yahoo.com
Nagas
Emre
E
Cubukcu
H Evren
HE
Dagli
Fugen
F
Cehreli
Zafer C
ZC
D003738:Dental Cements / Q000737:chemistry*; D004338:Drug Combinations; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D016062:Porosity; D019279:Resin Cements / Q000737:chemistry; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
D003738:Dental Cements; D004338:Drug Combinations; D019279:Resin Cements; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials