Introduction: To prevent growth of residual bacteria, it has been proposed that sealers and filling
materials should have antibacterial properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the
antibacterial effects of AH26 sealer combined with two different antibiotics on Enterococcus
faecalis.
Materials and methods: In this in vitro study, the antimicrobial effects of amoxicillin and
minocycline which were added separately to AH26 sealer were evaluated on Enterococcus faecalis.
In group 1, 25% amoxicillin with AH26 sealer, in group 2, 25% minocycline with AH26 sealer, in
group 3, pure AH26 sealer, and in group 4, distilled water were used. The samples were placed in
agar plates inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis. All the plates were incubated for 7 days at 37°C
under anaerobic condition, and zones of growth inhibition were measured in millimeters at 24-, 48-,
72- and 7-day intervals. Data were analyzed using 2-way repeated measures ANOVA and multiple
comparisons were made by Tukey tests (α=0.05).
Results: The results showed that adding antibiotics at 25% concentrations to AH26 sealer created
significantly larger zones of growth inhibition compared to the sealer alone (p value < 0.05). In
groups 1 and 2, there were significant differences in zones of growth inhibition with an increase in
incubation period from 14 to 72 hours; however, there were no significant differences between 72-
hour and 1-week intervals. The maximum antibacterial activity was observed in the amoxicillin
group.
Conclusion: Mixing AH26 sealer with amoxicillin and minocycline significantly increases the
antibacterial property of the sealer against Enterococcus faecalis
