Efficacy of 3 Techniques in Removing Root Canal Filling Material

Objective: Retreatment of a root canal in the case of infection requires complete removal of previous filling material. This study evaluated the efficacy of 3 techniques in removing laterally compacted Resilon/Epiphany and gutta-percha/AH Plus from straight and curved canals during retreatment.Materials and Methods: Extracted human teeth (90 maxillary anterior teeth with single,straight root canals and 90 mandibular molars with mesial canal root curvatures of 20° to 35°) were divided into 6 groups each consisting of 15 straight and 15 curved root canals. Three groups were obturated using gutta-percha/AH Plus and 3 were obturated with Resilon/Epiphany. After 3 weeks storage at 37°C and 100% humidity, all root canal fillings were removed using a Gates Glidden drill, a Gates Glidden drill plus chloroform or a System B device.Results: For all removal techniques, specimens obturated with gutta-percha/AH Plus showed significantly more remnants of obturation material than specimens filled with Resilon/Epiphany for both straight and curved canals (p Conclusions: Removal of Resilon/Epiphany filling resulted in fewer remnants and was faster than gutta-percha/AH Plus removal using a Gates Glidden drill with or without chloroform in both straight and curved canals.