A comparison of apical transportation between FlexMaster and Twisted Files rotary instruments.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to evaluate apical transportation in root canals after the use of Twisted Files (TF; SybronEndo, Orange, CA) and FlexMaster (VDW, Munich, Germany) #40/04 rotary files.


METHODS
A double-digital radiographic technique was used to compare apical transportation between the TF and FlexMaster systems. Each rotary system was used to instrument mesial canals from 80 extracted mandibular molars. The central axes of the file imaged before instrumentation (#15 K-file) and the master apical rotary file (#40/04) were superimposed digitally. AutoCAD 2008 (Autodesk Inc, San Rafael, CA) was used to measure apical transportation at 0.5 mm from the working length (WL). The data were analyzed using the Student's t test, and significance was set at P < .05.


RESULTS
The mean amount of apical transportation at 0.5 mm from the WL was 0.17 ± 0.09 mm for the FlexMaster group and 0.19 ± 0.12 mm for the TF group. No statistically significant differences in apical transportation were found between the 2 groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Under the conditions of the study, no statistically significant differences in apical transportation were observed between FlexMaster and TF rotary files.
Department of Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Fernando
F
Duran-Sindreu
Marc
M
García
Juan Gonzalo
JG
Olivieri
Montse
M
Mercadé
Sergio
S
Morelló
Miguel
M
Roig
D003762:Dental Instruments / Q000009:adverse effects; D003786:Dental Pulp Cavity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible; D008963:Molar / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital; D018915:Root Canal Preparation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D019227:Tooth Apex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging