sealing ability of mta and cem cement as root-end fillings of human teeth in dry, saliva or blood-contaminated conditions

introduction: sealing ability is an important factor for a root-end filling material in endodontic surgeries. this in vitro study aimed to compare the sealing ability of mineral trioxide aggregate (mta) and a new endodontic cement named calcium enriched mixture (cem) cement as root-end filling materials. materials and methods: the experiments were carried out in dry, saliva or blood contaminated root-end cavities of hundred single-rooted extracted human teeth. after decoronation, the root canals were cleaned, shaped, obturated, and stored in 100% humidity for 5 days. removing the apical 2-3mm of each root, a 3mm deep root-end cavity was ultrasonically prepared. samples were randomly divided into 2 test groups of 45 roots/experimental material, and one subgroup (n=15) for each environmental condition as follows; a) dried before placing the filling material, b) filled after contamination with saliva, and c) filled after contamination with blood. ten roots were used as positive/negative controls. samples were placed in an incubator at 37 ° c for a day and immersed in methylene blue dye under reduced pressure environment for 48hours. roots were sectioned longitudinally and examined under stereomicroscope by an independent observer. results: using kruskal-wallis and mann-whitney u tests with bonferroni correction, the results demonstrated significantly less leakage for the cem cement in saliva contaminated condition when compared to mta (p<0.001). conclusion: it can be concluded that the sealing ability of cem cement was superior to mta in saliva contaminated condition.