Introduction: Nonsurgical retreatment procedure involves the complete removal of the previous filling material to allow thorough instrumentation, disinfection, and refilling of root canal system. We aimed to determine the residuals of the root-filling material by using 3 different retreatment techniques with the aid of micro-computed tomography.
Methods: Thirty extracted human maxillary molar teeth were included. All root canals were also obturated with F2 ProTaper single cones and AH Plus sealer. The following retreatment techniques were performed: group 1, ProTaper retreatment files; group 2, Mtwo retreatment files; and group 3, ProFile files. For the assessment of residual filling material, preoperative and postoperative micro-computed tomography scans were compared with each other, and the working time was recorded. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the differences between the groups. The significance level was set at P < .05.
Results: None of the retreatment techniques were capable of removing the whole filling material. The percentages of the residual filling materials for groups 1, 2, and 3 were 34.45, 45.43, and 23.63, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between groups 2 and 3 (P < .05). ProTaper and ProFile instruments required less time for the removal of filling materials when compared with Mtwo instrument.
Conclusions: ProFile files revealed the best results for endodontic retreatment in terms of both removing capacity and time requirement.
Keywords: Endodontics; micro-CT; retreatment.
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