title: Antibacterial effect of different root canal sealers on three bacterial species.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Bacteria persisting in the root canal system may thwart endodontic therapy. It is therefore interesting to know whether clinically available root canal sealers have an antimicrobial effect. The objective of the present in vitro study was to investigate the antibacterial effect of various sealers on the endodontologically detectable species Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) and Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis).
  
  
  METHODS
  The antibacterial effectiveness of the sealers was tested by means of the agar diffusion test (ADT) and the direct contact test (DCT). Eight different sealers (AH Plus(®), Hermetic(®), RoekoSeal(®), Sealapex(®), Apexit Plus(®), 2Seal(®), EndoREZ(®) and ProRoot MTA(®)) and two temporary sealers (Calxyl(®) and Gangraena Merz(®)) were tested. At first, 100μl of bacterial suspension (BS) of each individual micro-organism (optical density (OD) 0.5) was applied separately to Schaedler agar plates for the ADT. Subsequently, freshly mixed and set sealer was applied. After 48h of incubation, the inhibition zones were measured. Further, 18mg of sealer were put into each well of 48-well cell culture plates and overlaid with 400μl of Schaedler liquid medium and 100μl of BS (OD 0.5) in monoculture. Bacterial growth was determined by the DCT from the optical density of the liquid by photospectrometry after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 24h.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the application, the sealer Hermetic(®), a significant suppression of the species E. faecalis, F. nucleatum and P. gingivalis was detected in both the ADT and the DCT. AH Plus(®) showed a suppressive effect on E. faecalis and F. nucleatum in the DCT. With all other sealers tested, E. faecalis was not suppressible. RoekoSeal(®), Calxyl(®) and Gangraena-Merz(®) showed no antibacterial effect on the tested species whatsoever.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have shown in both ADT and DCT that some root canal sealers suppress the growth of E. faecalis in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany. Markus.Heyder@med.uni-jena.de
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heyder
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kranz
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Völpel
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pfister
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: Klaus D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Jandt
authors.forename: Bernd W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Sigusch
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000187:drug effects*; D016967:Fusobacterium nucleatum / Q000187:drug effects*; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000187:drug effects*; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013234:Stem Cells
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012387:Root Canal Filling Materials