2020 Volume 63 Issue 5 Pages 405-413
Purpose: To compare the shaping ability of the combination of the R-PILOT (RP) Reciproc glide path file and the conventional Reciproc (RC) or the more flexible Reciproc Blue (RC Blue) by investigating root canal wall displacement on the inner and outer sides of the curvature and the working time.
Methods: The curvatures of J-shaped curved root canal model blocks were scanned as image files. All canals were negotiated with a #10 stainless steel K-file (KF), randomly divided into six blocks in each of five groups, and prepared to size 25 as follows: group A (#15 KF-#25 KF), group B (RP-R25 RC), group C (#15 KF-R25 RC), group D (RP-R25 RC Blue), and group E (#15 KF-R25 RC Blue). The displacement of the root canal wall on the inner and outer sides of the curvature from the superimposed images before and after preparation and the working time for each group, process, and file were measured. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, one-way analysis of variance, or the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post hoc test. Values of p<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: In group A, the root canal wall displacement was the largest on the outer side of the curvature at 1 mm from the apex. In the groups using RP, root canal wall displacement was smaller on the inner side of the curvature at 1 and 2 mm from the apex compared with #15 KF. The groups using RC Blue had less root canal wall displacement on the inner side of the curvature compared with RC, and the displacement on the inner and outer sides of the curvature was almost equal. Total working time was as follows (in decreasing order) : A>E>C>B>D. The working time during glide path preparation was #15 KF>RP, and during root canal shaping was RC>RC Blue.
Conclusion: The combination of RP and RC Blue maintained the original root canal curvature and shortened the working time.
