The Apical Sealing Ability of AH26, AH Plus and ZOE Root Canal Sealers

Abstract

Background and aim
It has been established that success of the root canal treatment depends on the quality of root canal obturation. The aim of this study was to compare the apical sealing ability of three root canal sealers.

Methods and Materials
The apical sealing ability of root canal sealers AH26, AH Plus and zinc-oxide eugenol (ZOE) were tested on 100 single-rooted teeth. The coronal part of each tooth was removed about 2mm above the cementoenamal junction. Root canals were instrumented using the “Step-Back” technique using hand files and Gates Glidden drills and irrigated with 2.5% sodium hypochlorite. The teeth were divided into three groups of 30 teeth each and filled with test sealers and gutta-percha points by the cold lateral condensation technique. Ten teeth were used as control groups (five served as negative and five as positive controls). The teeth were immersed in 2% methylene blue for 3 days. The teeth were then longitudinally sectioned and evaluated for linear apical dye penetration.

Results
The differences in leakage among AH26 (2.08mm;SD 0.215), AH Plus (3.64mm;SD 0.182) and ZOE (5.41mm;SD 0.274) were statistically significant (P<0.05).

Conclusion
Under the conditions of this study, all three sealers allowed some leakage to occur. Significantly less leakage occurred with both epoxy resin sealers (AH26, AH Plus) than ZOE. Leakage with AH26 was significantly less than AH Plus.

Key words
AH26, AH Plus, ZOE, Dye penetration, Cold lateral condensation.