Comparison of Apical Extrusion of Sodium Hypochlorite Using 4 Different Root Canal Irrigation Techniques

Abstract

Introduction: We compared the apical extrusion of sodium hypochlorite delivered with a 27-G needle, self-adjusting file (SAF), passive ultrasonic irrigation, or the Endo Vac system (SybronEndo, Orange, CA) during the instrumentation and final irrigation of root canals. Methods: Matched paired single-canal teeth were divided into 8 groups. The experimental groups were needle irrigation size #30 (NI30) and #50 (NI50), SAF size #30 (SAF30) and #50 (SAF50), passive ultrasonic irrigation size #30 (PUI30) and #50 (PUI50), and Endo Vac size #30 (EV30) and #50 (EV50). Teeth were embedded in 0.2% agarose gel (pH = 7.4) containing 1 mL 0.1% m-Cresol purple (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO), which changes color at a pH level of 9.0. Root canals were irrigated with sodium hypochlorite and EDTA using 4 different techniques, and the amount of irrigant was controlled. Standardized digital photographs were taken 20 minutes after the first irrigant was used and were analyzed to determine the amount of extrusion (expressed as a percentage of total pixels). Results: The amounts of apical extrusion obtained in the NI30, NI50, SAF30, SAF50, PUI30, PUI50, EV30, and EV50 groups were 30% (3/10), 50% (5/10), 20% (2/10), 70% (7/10), 40% (4/10), 40% (4/10), 10% (1/10), and 10% (1/10), respectively. The overall extrusion frequency, regardless of the apical preparation size, was 40% (8/20) for needle, 45% (9/20) for SAF, 40% (8/20) for ultrasonic irrigation, and 10% (2/20) for Endo Vac. Although the SAF group showed more extrusion, the percentage of pixels was significantly higher in the needle irrigation group (P<.01). The Endo Vac group showed significantly lower extrusion values than the other techniques in terms of the number of teeth and pixels (P < .05 and P < .01, respectively). Conclusions: The risk of apical extrusion is significantly lower with the Endo Vac in comparison with the 3 other techniques.