Fluid transport and dye penetration along root canal fillings

Dye penetration along root canal fillings may be hindered by the presence of entrapped air. In this study, the sensitivity of a dye penetration method was compared with that of a fluid transport model. Sixty root sections from human maxillary central incisors were prepared and obturated by a modified technique to ensure a slight amount of leakage, and divided into three equal groups. Twenty root sections were first mounted in a fluid transport device and assessed for fluid transport under 10 kPa (0.1 atm.) pressure. Another 20 root sections were mounted in the same device before being subjected to air transport under the same pressure. The remaining 20 root sections were not exposed to fluid or air transport. Then, all the 60 root sections were assessed for penetration of a 2% methylene blue solution. The results showed that fluid transport was a much more sensitive method of detecting voids along root canal fillings than dye penetration. After fluid transport for 3 h under low pressure, to eliminate entrapped air, dye penetrated significantly deeper than without previous fluid transport, which suggested that entrapped air in voids along the root canal filling prevented dye penetration.