Aim: This work describes clinical cases treated with a innovative single-use and single-file nickel-titanium (NiTi) system used in continuous rotation.
Background: Nickel-titanium files are commonly used for root canal treatment but they tend to break because of bending stresses and torsional stresses. Today new instruments used only for one treatment have been introduced. They help the clinician to make the root canal shaping easier and safer because they do not require sterilization and after use have to be discarded. A new sterile instrument is used for each treatment in order to reduce the possibility of fracture inside the canal. The new One Shape NiTi single-file instrument belongs to this group.
Case description: One Shape is used for complete shaping of root canal after an adequate preflaring. Its protocol is simple and some clinical cases are presented. It is helpful for easy cases and reliable for difficult canals.
Conclusion: After 2 years of clinical practice, One Shape seems to be helpful for the treatment of most of the root canals, with low risk of separation. After each treatment, the instrument is discarded and not sterilized in autoclave or re-used.
Clinical significance: This single-use file simplifies the endodontic therapy, because only one instrument is required for canal shaping of many cases. The respect of clinical protocol guarantees predictable good results.
Keywords: Nickel-titanium instruments; Root canal shaping; Single-file technique; Single-use file.