Comparison of Root Canal Cleaning Ability of ProTaper NEXT and WaveOne Rotary file systems - A Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) study

Objectives: One of the important objectives of root canal instrumentation is the removal of vital and/or necrotic pulp tissue, as well as dentin debris ensuring a completely clean canal environment. During the past few decades, various nickel titanium rotary endodontic file systems have been developed with high efficiency and sound safety to ensure completely clean canals. The purpose of the present study was to compare the cleaning efficacy of two different rotary file systems- ProTaper NEXT and WaveOne, using a Scanning Electron Microscope. Study Design: 60 extracted single rooted teeth with single root canals were selected for the study and access cavities were prepared. The working lengths were determined using #10/15 K files and the samples were divided into two experimental groups. Group-1: Cleaning and Shaping was performed using ProTaper NEXT rotary files following manufacturer’s instructions up to size X4 (apical diameter of 0.40 mm). Group-2: Cleaning and Shaping was performed using WaveOne rotary files of size 40 (apical diameter of 0.40 mm) following manufacturer’s instructions. 6 samples from each group were left uninstrumented which served as control. The radicular portion of all the samples were split buccolingually following decoronation at the cementoenamel junction. The samples were examined in the coronal, middle and apical third of the root canal under the scanning electron microscope. Results: The analysis of the results demonstrated that WaveOne (Mean debris score= 1.22) presented higher cleaning capacity of root canals when compared to ProTaper NEXT (Mean debris score= 1.58) (p value <0.05). Conclusion: Both the rotary systems WaveOne and ProTaper NEXT resulted in cleaner canals after instrumentation. However, the apical thirds of the root canals demonstrated more residual debris scores when compared to the middle and coronal thirds. Also, the WaveOne files resulted in cleaner canals than ProTaper NEXT file system.