comparison of extracted teeth and simulated resin blocks on apical canal transportation

introduction: we aimed to compare apical canal transportation of extracted teeth and two types of simulated resin blocks. materials and methods: mesiobuccal root of extracted maxillary molars, high hardness simulated resin blocks (knoop hardness=40) and low hardness simulated resin blocks (knoop hardness=22) were prepared with k-files using step-back technique (n=15 canals in each group). double exposure radiographic technique was used for extracted teeth. simulated resin blocks were stabilized and scanned before and after preparation. pre and post-preparation pictures were superimposed and apical transportation was measured. the data were analyzed statistically using anova and tukey hsd tests. results: there was no significant difference in apical canal transportation between extracted teeth and high hardness resin blocks (p>0.05). low hardness resin blocks showed more apical transportation than the other groups (p<0.05). conclusion: under the conditions of this study, apical canal transportation for extracted teeth and high hardness simulated resin blocks were similar.