Comparison of Apical Seal of Three Obturation Techniques after Post Space Preparations

Introduction: The ultimate goal of endodontic treatment is to prevent pathogens from entering the root canal and surrounding tissues. The quality of root canal filling is a leading factor determining the success or failure of root canal treatment. This study was carried out to compare the apical seal of teeth prepared for post space using three different techniques of root canal filling. Materials and Methods:Experiments were conducted on 36 human extracted anterior and permanent single canal teeth. Participants were divided into three subgroups, each with 12 members. Cold Lateral Compaction (CLC), Warm Vertical Compaction (WVC), and Single Cone (SC) techniques were used to fill the canal respectively in subgroups I, II, and III. The coronal part of the root canal was removed in order to prepare the post space for filling. Pelican ink was utilized to examine the penetration of linear leakage, and dye penetration was measured by a stereomicroscope. The normality of the data was assessed using the Shapiro–Wilk test, and Levon’s test was employed to study the homogeneity of variance of the studied groups. Groups were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test, and ultimately, the Mann-Whitney test with Bonferroni correction was used for the pairwise comparison of groups. Results: The mean leakage in CLC and WVC techniques was lower than that of the SC technique. The highest leakage (6.32 ± 1.20 mm on average) was observed in the SC technique, followed by the CLC technique (5.49 ± 1.23 mm on average), and the WVC technique (4.95 ± 1.35 on average). A meaningful difference was observed between WVC and SC techniques (p = 0.021). Conclusion:CLC and WVC techniques yielded a lower mean leakage and better apical seal, as compared to the SC technique.