Coronal Microleakage of Root Canal Filling Material in Primary Teeth

Objectives: To evaluate in vitro coronal sealing ability of Vitapex® root canal filling material in primary teeth using different surface treatment of the root canal walls before obturation.

Methods:

A total of 40 extracted primary incisors were randomly divided into 6 groups. Groups 5 and 6 were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Groups 1-4 were used to evaluate intracoronal sealing ability of Vitapex® following different surface treatments of the root canal walls before obturation. Surface treatments included one or more of the following materials: Chlorhexidine Gluconate (0.12%), sodium hypochlorite (5.25%), and application of a self-etching adhesive (GC G-BOND). Roots were prepared for microleakage testing and liner dye penetration was measured. The presence of dye penetration at the interface of the obturation material and the tooth was considered as an indicator of microleakage. Liner dye penetration was measured and results were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's HSD test was used to determine the significantly different groups (p≤0.05).

Results: Stereoscopic examination of the sectioned control teeth of the negative control roots showed no dye penetration of the root canal. Positive control roots showed complete dye penetration along the entire length of the root canal. Mean ± SD of groups 1-4 were 4.99 + 1.04, 4.96 + 1.41, 3.26 + 1.10, and 2.83 + 1.49 respectively. One-way analysis of variance revealed statistically significant differences between the groups (p=0.001) and Tukey's HSD test showed difference between groups.

Conclusions: The selected resorbable root canal filling material (Vitapex®) used in primary teeth and applied in this study showed coronal leakage. The highest coronal leakage was recorded for Vitapex® following application of sodium hypochlorite and/or chlorhexidine gluconate. Vitapex® showed less coronal leakage following application of self-etching adhesive (GC G-BOND).