Comparison of rotary instrumentation and continuous wave obturation to reciprocating instrumentation and single cone obturation with a hydrophilic sealer

This in vitro study compared the effectiveness between ProFile 29 Series rotary system followed by continuous wave obturation and the Endo-Eze system. Thirty-six human mandibular canine and premolar teeth were randomly separated into 2 groups of 18. Each tooth was embedded in resin and sectioned at 2, 6, and 12 mm from the apex and viewed under the scanning electron microscope at 50-150x magnification. The percentages of canal space occupied by gutta-percha, sealer, debris, and voids were measured and analyzed with Image J software. Results were calculated by using an analysis of variance model with fixed effects for method, distance, and distance interaction. Repeatability of measurements and intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated. These results demonstrated that obturation with the continuous wave technique achieved significantly more gutta-percha occupying the canal space than the Endo-Eze system. Under the conditions of this study, the continuous wave technique was less likely to exhibit voids than the Endo-Eze technique. Furthermore, neither the Profile Series 29 nor the Endo-Eze system cleaned and shaped elliptical canals consistently.