word count: 218 wordsText word count: 2555 words

The sealing ability of gutta-percha/sealer root canal filling was compared to a new thermoplastic synthetic polymer-based obturation material (Resilon TM ), using a microleakage model and a new sequence detection assay One Cut Event AmplificatioN (OCEAN TM ). Eighty-eight extracted human teeth, shaped with K-Files and the ProTaper Technique, were randomly assigned to four groups (n ¼ 22) and obturated in the apical 5 mm. Group R were obturated with the Resilon/Epiphany technique; group GP were obturated with guttapercha and Zinc oxide eugenoe sealer; group RCH and GPCH received calcium hydroxide intracanal medication before being obturated. Sterilized specimens were inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis and incubated in sterile medium for 47 days. DNA extracted from the specimens was amplified by PCR and then identified by the OCEAN technique. Samples obturated with Resilon root canal *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dampasq@libero.it

No abstract