Comparison of Apical Adaptation Between Several Obturation Methods: An in Vitro Study

Objective: To compare lateral compaction obturation with carrier-based gutta-percha and downpack-backfill. Material and Methods: Ninety tooth with single root canal were prepared with rotary Protaper and divided into 3 groups: Group 1 obturated with lateral heated compaction (LHC), Group 2 with carrier-based gutta-percha (CP) and Group 3 with downpack-backfill (DB). The apical one-third adaptation was determined by examining the dye penetration between obturation material and root canal wall on the horizontal cut samples. The data received was analyzed using SPSS 17 software. Chi-square statistical test was done with level of significance (α) of 0.05. Results: The DB group had the highest amount of score of 0, followed by CP group and LHC group. The DB group had 28 samples (93.3%) with score of 0, which was the largest compared to the CP and LHC group. All groups had some score 2, and score 3 and 4 were only examined in the LHC group Adaptation of the apical one-third on DB group had the best result, followed by CP and LHC group (p>0.05). Conclusion: The adaptation of apical one-third by downpack-backfill was the best among the three groups, but there was no statistically significant difference among those groups.