A Comparison of Canal-centering ability of Two Nickel-Titanium Rotary Systems with Nickel Hand Instrumentation with Stainless Steel Hand Instrumentation in 10 to 25° Curved Canals using Kuttler's Cube

AIMS The purpose of this study was to compare the canal centering abilities of rotary nickel-titanium (NiTi) files (ProFile 0.04 and 0.06 and Lightspeed LSX) and NiTi hand K-files in 10° to 25° curved canals. This was compared with the canal centering ability of stainless steel hand K-files using Kuttler's endodontic cube. SETTINGS AND DESIGN The teeth with a 10° to 25° of clinical mesiodistal curvature were used for this study. Each tooth was immersed in methylene blue dye for a period of 10 seconds, as recommended by Kuttler. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study sample comprised of 60 intact freshly extracted single rooted human mandibular premolars. The radiographs were traced on a tracing paper and the canal curvature was determined according to methodology introduced by Schneider. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED The statistical package SPSS PC + (Statistical package for social service, Version 4.01) was used for analysis. RESULTS Overall, Lightspeed LSX instruments showed superior canal centering ability and performed better than Profile series, hand NiTi K-files and hand stainless steel K-files. CONCLUSION The endodontic cube can be used as an effective method for analyzing the canal-centering ability of different endodontic instruments. Both the NiTi rotary instruments showed superior canal-centering ability than NiTi and stainless steel hand K-files. How to cite this article: Swarnkar A. A Comparison of Canal-centering ability of Two Nickel-Titanium Rotary Systems with Nickel Hand Instrumentation with Stainless Steel Hand Instrumentation in 10 to 25° Curved Canals using Kuttler's Cube. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2014;7(3):157-162.