UNTOUCHED CANAL WALL AREAS AFTER ROOT CANAL PREPARATION WITH MINIMAL INVASIVE NITI ROTARY INSTRUMENTS

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the percentage of untouched root canal wall areas after root canal preparation using conservative nickel-titanium rotary instruments, namely TruNatomy and ProTaper Ultimate, with the conventional ProTaper Gold system. Sixty mesial roots of mandibular molars with Vertucci type II canal configuration were selected and randomly divided into three groups according to the instrumentation system used. Root canals were prepared using the assigned rotary systems and subsequently scanned using micro-computed tomography to evaluate changes in the canal wall surfaces. The results showed that the percentages of untouched canal wall areas in the TruNatomy, ProTaper Ultimate, and ProTaper Gold groups were 79.01%, 71.51%, and 66.43%, respectively. One-way analysis of variance demonstrated that different nickel-titanium rotary systems significantly affected the percentage of untouched canal wall areas (p < 0.05). Bonferroni post hoc analysis revealed that the TruNatomy group exhibited significantly greater untouched canal wall areas than both the ProTaper Ultimate and ProTaper Gold groups (p = 0.009 and 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, the type of nickel-titanium rotary instrumentation system significantly influences the percentage of untouched root canal wall areas following canal preparation, with TruNatomy showing the highest proportion of untouched surfaces among the tested systems.

Keywords: NiTi Rotary, Trunatomy, Protaper Ultimate, Protaper Gold, Untouched Root Canal Area, Micro-Computed Tomography