Resumo

MANIGLIA-FERREIRA, Cláudio et al. Analysis of gutta-percha's root canal filling capacity through three different obturation techniques. RSBO (Online) [online]. 2011, vol.8, n.1, pp. 19-26. ISSN 1984-5685.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine gutta-percha's root canal filling capacity through three different filling techniques. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty single-rooted human teeth were cleaned, shaped and randomly divided according to the filling technique: Group I: Lateral condensation; Group II: Hydraulic compression; Group III: Tagger's hybrid. All procedures were performed by two previously calibrated operators. The teeth were transversely sectioned into four cuts, starting from the root apex (at 3 mm, 6 mm, 9 mm, and 12 mm), by using an Isomet diamond blade (wafering blade, series 15 high concentration, 5 inch blade, Buehler Ltd., Lake Bluff, IL, USA), mounted in an IsoMet^® Low Speed Saw (Buehler Ltd., Lake Bluff, IL, USA), and water as a cooling medium. Each group's cut was embedded in acrylic resin and polished. Root canal images were captured and then analysed by Image Tool 3.0 software (Department of Dental Diagnostic Science, University of Texas, Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas). Measurements of root canal overall area and gutta-percha-filled area were executed, therefore, obtaining the percentage of gutta-percha's root canal filling capacity for each slice. RESULTS: Data were analyzed by GMC software 10.0 and Kruskal-Wallis test. Tagger's hybrid technique (95.1%) was superior to the other two techniques, followed by Hydraulic compression (89.1%) and lateral condensation (70.6%). The results were statistically different among the three techniques, for all cuts (p < 0.01). Intra-group analyses showed statistically significant differences only in Group I (p < 0.01). However, slices obtained at 6 mm and 9 mm were statistically equal (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that Tagger's hybrid technique may yield better root canal filling capacity than Hydraulic compression and lateral condensation technique, which showed the worst filling capacity of all the three techniques employed.

Palavras-chave : filling technique; gutta-percha; root canal.