comparison of radiopacity of six endodontic sealers

introduction: optimal radiopacity is one of the properties required for a root canal sealer that helps the distinction between the sealer and surrounding anatomic structures and evaluation of the quality of root filling. so, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiopacity of six root canal sealers at different focal distances. materials and methods: in this in vitro study, six endodontic sealers (adseal, ah26, ah plus, dorifill, mta fillapex, and zoe), were prepared and placed in a mold with 1mm thickness and 10mm diameter. the specimens were posi-tioned alongside an aluminum step wedge on a digital detector (occlusal size 76×57 mm). radi-ographic imaging was performed at 15 and 30cm focal distances and radiopacity of each specimen was measured.one-way anova and paired t-test were used and p<0.05 was consi-dered significant. results: all sealers were found to be more radiopaque than 3 mm aluminum. at 15cm focal distance, the radiopacity values were 31.7, 60.68, 121.48, 52.4, 48.6, and 48.08 aluminum for adseal, ah26, ah plus,dorifill, mta fillapex and zoe, respectively. at 30cm focal distance, the figures were 80.32, 153.6, 253.6, 139.92, 144.08, and 129.92 for adseal, ah26, ah plus,dorifill, mta fillapex and zoe, respectively. conclusion: all of the sealers investigated in this study met the standards for minimal radiopacity. ah plus had the highest radiopacity at both focal distances. radiopacity decreased by increasing the focal distance and the decline was statistically significant for ahplus.