New software: comparison between three software programs for root canal length measurement.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to design a software program to estimate the curved root canal working length by using curved line software and comparing its accuracy with Trophy and Cygnus software programs. METHODS 120 simulated curved canals were divided into 12 groups based on the radius and the angle of the curvature. The true canal length was measured from the orifice to the terminus. Canals were filled with urographin and were imaged by a digital radiographic system. Canal length was measured with newly developed software that uses a curved line, as well as with Cygnus and Trophy software, both of which use a sequence of straight lines, and their accuracies were compared. RESULTS The proposed software was significantly more accurate than other software with respect to the gold standard (P < 0.001). However, the error was less than 0.5 mm in over 99% of the cases with all software with three clicks, and over 96% of the cases with six clicks in Trophy, which was not statistically significant (P = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS The studied software programs were not significantly different and their statistically significant difference compared with the gold standard is not clinically significant. The suggested software has to be studied more regarding its capabilities in the utilization of curved lines in measuring curved canals and calibration of the measurements.