Radiographic Assessment of the Technical Quality and Periapical Health of Root-Filled Teeth Performed by General Practitioners in a Turkish Subpopulation

Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate by means of radiographs the technical quality of root fillings performed by dental practitioners. Methods and Material. Standardized periapical radiographs were made on 484 patients who received endodontic treatment in private practice. A total of 831 endodontically treated teeth with 1448 roots were evaluated for technical quality of the root canal filling and the periapical status of the teeth. Also, the apical status of each root-filled tooth was assessed according to the length, density, and taper of root fillings, and the presence of apical transportation, broken root instruments, and overfilled sealer or gutta-percha material was recorded for each root canal. Results. Of the endodontically treated teeth 26.6% had healthy periapical tissues, while technically good endodontic treatment constituted 12.8%. Based on the treatment success, there was no significant difference between the tooth groups. Statistical analysis of the data did not demonstrate statistically significant differences between the various parameters that were evaluated (). Conclusions. Technical quality of root fillings in a population who received treatment in private practice was poor and was consistent with a low prevalence of apical health. The probable reasons for this failure are multifactorial and may be improved if the operators improve their skills with continuing postgraduate education programs

Apical extrusion of debris using self-adjusting file, reciprocating single-file, and 2 rotary instrumentation systems

Introduction The purpose of this study was to evaluate the weight of debris extruded apically from teeth using different in vitro preparation techniques. Methods Sixty-eight extracted human mandibular premolars with single canals and similar lengths were instrumented using ProTaper F2 (25,.08; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), the Self-Adjusting File (1.5-mm diameter; Re-Dent Nova, Ra'anana, Israel), Revo-S SU (25,.06; MicroMega, Besancon, France), or Reciproc (R25; VDW GmbH, Munich Germany). Debris extruded during instrumentation were collected into preweighed Eppendorf tubes. The Eppendorf tubes were then stored in an incubator at 70 C for 5 days. The Eppendorf tubes were weighed to obtain the final weight of the Eppendorf tubes when the extruded debris were included. Three consecutive weights were obtained for each tube. Results There were no statistically significant differences among the groups (P =.218). The ProTaper group produced the highest mean extrusion value. The Reciproc produced less debris compared with all the other instruments (P >.05). Conclusions All instrumentation techniques were associated with extruded debris. © 2013 American Association of Endodontists