comparison of fl uid fi ltration and bacterial leakage techniques for evaluation of microleakage in endodontics

background: apical leakage assessment is a way to compare the effi ciency of a fi lling material to seal the apical region of the tooth. many microleakage testing techniques have been introduced through the years, but there has been no agreement as to which technique gives the most accurate results. the aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of fl uid fi ltration and bacterial leakage techniques in the assessment of the apical sealing ability of mineral trioxide aggregate (mta) and calcium enriched mixture (cem). materials and methods: a sample of 34 extracted single-rooted human teeth were selected and prepared. the samples were divided in to 2 experimental groups. the apical 3 mm of each root was resected at 90° to its long axis and root end preparation was done with ultrasonic tips to a depth of 3 mm and fi lled with mta and cem, respectively. assessment of apical sealing ability was done with fl uid fi ltration technique and bacterial leakage technique along 90 days with enterococcus faecalis bacteria. mann-whitney u-test and chi-square test were used to analyze the data using spss (spss inc., chicago, il, usa). p less than 0.05 was considered as signifi cant. results: there was no signifi cant difference in apical sealing ability between mta and cem in bacterial leakage and fl uid fi ltration techniques. samples which had bacterial leakage showed higher leakage values by fl uid fi ltration technique. conclusion: both techniques showed same results and there was no signifi cant difference between fl uid fi ltration and bacterial leakage techniques in assessment of apical microleakage. key words: bacterial leakage, fl uid fi ltration, microleakage, root-end fi lling