Influence of Post Space Preparation on the Apical Leakage of Calamus, Single-Cone and Cold Lateral Condensation Obturation Techniques: A Computerized Fluid Filtration Study

Purpose Apical microleakage between the root canal and periapical tissues is considered a common cause of endodontic failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the apical microleakage of various obturation techniques after immediate post space preparations with different drills. Materials and Methods One hundred twenty human single-rooted teeth were selected for this study. The coronal portions were removed to achieve a uniform length of 15 mm. All root canals were instrumented with ProTaper Next rotary files using crown-down technique. The 120 roots were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups according to obturation technique (n = 40). The root canals were obturated with lateral condensation in group 1, single-cone technique in group 2, and Calamus 3D obturation system in group 3. Each group was divided into two subgroups (n = 20) according to drill types (Gates Glidden and Peeso drills) leaving 5 mm of apical gutta-percha. The apical microleakage was measured using the computerized fluid filtration meter method. The results were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis test with Bonferroni Corrected Mann-Whitney U multiple comparison post hoc tests. Results There was no statistically significant difference between obturation techniques after post space preparation with Peeso drills (p > 0.05). In Gates Glidden drill groups, single-cone technique demonstrated higher leakage (0.0051 +/- 0.0037 mu l x min(-1) x cmH(2)O(-1)) than Calamus techniques (0.0019 +/- 0.0012 mu l x min(-1) x cmH(2)O(-1)) (p < 0.017). Conclusions Gates Glidden drills caused the highest apical leakage in teeth obturated with single-cone technique

Effectiveness of calibrated digital photography technique in dental shade analyses applications

Objectives: Although spectrophotometers are commonly used in shade analysis in dentistry; digital cameras, photographic lighting systems, computer programs and photographs have also become the part of this field. The aim of this study was to compare the success of spectrophotometer and calibrated digital photography on shade selection. Materials and Methods: 3D-Master toothguide (VITA) with 29 tabs was used for the analyses. L, a, b values were determined by a spectrophotometer (Minolta CM-2300D, Konica) and these values were matched with digital photographic measurements. Photographs were transferred to an image analyzing software (Adobe Photoshop CC). Results: There were significant differences between L* values of the spectrophotometric analyses and digital measurements in 3 different regions of the tab (p&lt;0.05). For the evaluation of ΔE values, Post hoc Bonferroni analysis which was performed between the 3 regions of shade tabs revealed significant difference between the middle (21.92 ± 2.31), incisal (13.67 ± 1.69) and cervical (19.57 ± 2.47) region of the tabs (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: Spectrophotometer was found to be a more accurate shade determination technique compared to calibrated digital photography