Comparison of apical debris extrusion during root canal preparation using instrumentation techniques with two operating principles: An in vitro study

AIMS The aim of this study was to quantify the debris extruded apically from teeth using rotary and reciprocation instrumentation systems. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Eighty extracted human mandibular premolars with single canals and similar lengths were instrumented using ProTaper Universal (40, 06; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), ProTaper Next (40, 06; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), WaveOne (40, 06; Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland), and Reciproc (R40; VDW GmbH, Munich, Germany). Debris extruded during instrumentation was collected into preweighed Eppendorf tubes, which were then stored in an incubator at 70°C for 5 days. The final weight of the Eppendorf tubes with the extruded debris was calculated after obtaining the mean of three consecutive weights obtained for each tube. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 16.0 software. The groups were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test for all variables. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P = 0.1114). However, the ProTaper Universal group produced more extrusion and ProTaper Next produced least debris extrusion among the instrument groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS All instrumentation techniques were associated with extruded debris.