Presence of voids after warm vertical compaction and single‐cone obturation in band‐shaped isthmuses using micro‐computed tomography: A phantom study

Abstract

The present micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT) study compared the presence of voids in the band‐shaped isthmuses obturated by warm vertical compaction (WVC) and single‐cone (SC) techniques. Twenty mesial roots from mandibular first molar teeth showing a band‐shaped isthmus were selected and assigned into two groups based on their preoperative anatomical dimensions (n = 10), according to the filling technique: WVC or SC. Post‐filling micro‐CT scanning was performed. The percentage volume of root canal filling materials and voids were calculated and data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test with a significance level of 5 and 95% confidence interval. Mean percentage volumes of filling materials and voids were 86.88 ± 8.53 and 13.11 ± 8.53 for the WVC group, 84.39 ± 8.30 and 15.60 ± 8.30 for the SC group, respectively, with no significant difference between them (p > .05). Neither WVC nor SC produced void‐free root canal fillings in the band‐shaped isthmuses and both techniques resulted in a similar quality of root canal filling.

Main and Accessory Canal Filling Quality of a Premixed Calcium Silicate Endodontic Sealer According to Different Obturation Techniques

“…We showed that the technique was more beneficial to obturate the root canal with less void formation compared to warm vertical compaction. However, in contrast to our study, a considerable number of recent studies have reported that the filling quality of the SC technique was not inferior but instead superior to other techniques, such as warm vertical compaction [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. While reviewing the papers, we recognized that all the studies were performed only using microcomputed tomography (μCT) but did not observe the sectioned tooth specimens using a microscope.…”

“…However, in terms of void formation, a couple of studies, including ours, reported that the SC technique might be inferior to other techniques, such as the core-carrier method or vertical compaction [ 7 , 19 ]. Nevertheless, a significant number of studies showed that the SC technique did not generate more voids compared to other methods, and thus there are still controversies [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Therefore, in the present study, we reproduced the experiment using a newly launched zirconium-oxide-containing premixed calcium silicate sealer (Endoseal TCS) with similar teeth and protocol.…”

Micro‐CT evaluation of filling of flattened root canals using a new premixed ready‐to‐use calcium silicate sealer by single‐cone technique

“…However, the single‐cone technique was used in this study to allow direct comparison between Bio‐C and AH Plus since this technique has less operator influence (Heran et al, 2019). Previous studies used the single‐cone technique to evaluate the filling capacity in different root canal morphologies, such as straight root canals (Wang et al, 2018), oval root canals (Celikten et al, 2016), root canals with isthmus (Keleş & Keskin, 2020), and mesial canals of mandibular molars (Heran et al, 2019). Nevertheless, this is the first study using the single‐cone technique to evaluate the filling ability of endodontic sealers in flattened root canals.…”

“…Micro‐CT is a widely used method for assessing the filling quality of root canals (Celikten et al, 2015; Celikten et al, 2016; Keleş & Keskin, 2020), due to its possibility of three‐dimensional analyzes with high definition (Celikten et al, 2016). The X‐ ray interaction is determined by the material radiopacity (Bouxsein et al, 2010).…”

“…The single‐cone technique is an easy and low‐cost method (Heran, Khalid, Albaaj, Tomson, & Camilleri, 2019; Keleş & Keskin, 2020) that uses one gutta‐percha cone with the same size and taper of the root canal preparation (Wang, Liu, & Dong, 2018). The single‐cone technique demonstrated filling capacity in circular root canals (Somma et al, 2011; Wang et al, 2018).…”