An ex vivo comparison of root canal length determination by three electronic apex locators at positions short of the apical foramen.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the precision of working length determination of 3 electronic apex locators (EALs): Root ZX, RomiApex D-30, and Ipex at 0.0 mm, at the apical foramen (AF), and at 1.0 mm short of the AF.


METHODS
Thirty-eight mandibular premolars had their real lengths previously determined. Electronic measurements were determined at 1.0 mm, followed by measurements at 0.0 mm, performed in triplicate.


RESULTS
Precision of devices at 1.0 mm and 0.0 mm were: 94.7% and 97.4%, respectively (Root ZX); 78.9% and 97.4% (RomiApex D-30); and 76.3% and 97.4% (Ipex). Although no statistical differences were observed between the EALs at 0.0, at 1.0 mm Root ZX performed significantly better than the others.


CONCLUSIONS
The EALs had acceptable precision when measuring the working length at the AF. However, when used at levels short of the AF, only Root ZX did not suffer a significant negative effect on precision.
de Vasconcelos
Bruno Carvalho
BC
School of Dentistry of Sobral, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. bcv@usp.br
do Vale
Tainá Macedo
TM
de Menezes
Antônio Sérgio Teixeira
AS
Pinheiro-Junior
Elilton Cavalcante
EC
Vivacqua-Gomes
Nilton
N
Bernardes
Ricardo Affonso
RA
Hungaro Duarte
Marco Antonio
MA
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001641:Bicuspid / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D003762:Dental Instruments; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible; D009811:Odontometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019227:Tooth Apex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*