Introduction: Cyclic fatigue is the common reason for breakage of rotary instruments. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of cryogenic treatment (CT) in improving the resistance to cyclic fatigue of endodontic rotary instruments.
Methods and materials: In this in vitro study, 20 RaCe and 20 Mtwo files were randomly divided into two groups of negative control and CT. CT files were stored in liquid nitrogen at -196°C for 24 h, and then were gradually warmed to the room temperature. All files were used (at torques and speeds recommended by their manufacturers) in a simulated canal with a 45° curvature until breakage. The time to fail (TF) was recorded and used to calculate the number of cycle to fail (NCF). Groups were compared using independent-samples t-test.
Results: Mean NCFs were 1248.2±68.1, 1281.6±78.6, 4126.0±179.2, and 4175.4±190.1 cycles, for the Mtwo-control, Mtwo-CT, RaCe-control, and RaCe-CT, respectively. The difference between the controls and their respective CT groups were not significant (P>0.3). The difference between the systems was significant.
Conclusion: Deep CT did not improve resistance to cyclic fatigue of the evaluated rotary files.
Keywords: Cryogenic Treatment; Cyclic Fatigue; Instrument Fracture; Rotary Nickel Titanium Files.