combined bacterial-fungal penetration after obturation with ah 26 and ah plus root canal sealers

objective: the aim of this in vitro study was to compare the coronal microleakage between streptococcus sanguis per se and a mixture suspension of e. faecalis and c. albicans in root canals filled with gutta-percha and either ah 26 or ah plus sealer. materials and methods: one-hundred and ten extracted human teeth were decoronated to a standardized root length of 14 mm and prepared using mtwo nickel-titanium (ni-ti) instruments to a master apical file size 35, 0.04 taper and obturated with gutta-percha and either ah 26 or ah plus sealers by lateral condensation. after setting of the sealers, the teeth were randomly divided into two experimental groups (n=50) and two control groups (n=5). the coronal chambers of half the teeth in each experimental group (n=25) were inoculated with 0.5 ml of brain heart infusion agar containing approximately 3×108 of each microorganism in every ml of candida albicans (atcc10231) and enterococcus faecalis (atcc29212) using a sterile micropipette. the other half of the teeth of each experimental group were inoculated with streptococcus sanguis (atcc10556) with the same concentration. the days of microbial penetration were noted for evaluation. the data were statistically analyzed using kaplan meier and log-rank tests. results: there were no statistically significant differences between the four experimental groups regarding the leakage rate (p=0.130). conclusion: under the conditions of this study, there was no difference in the microbial penetration of ah 26 and ah plus sealers at 60 days.