Bacterial Leakage of Mineral Trioxide Aggregatebased and Resin-based Sealers in Teeth Ready for Root Retainers

Aim: To perform an in vitro experiment to compare the sealing capability of a mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) Fillapex sealer and an AH Plus sealer after root canal preparation for root canal pins.Methods: Forty-four lower premolar roots were biomechanically prepared, and the diameter of the cervical, middle, and apical thirds were standardized. The roots were sterilized, and the subsequent steps were conducted in a laminar flow booth. The specimens were filled by the lateral condensation technique with MTA Fillapex or AH Plus sealers, and the filling material was removed immediately after filling by leaving two different lengths (4 mm or 8 mm) of the remaining root filling. Four roots made up the positive and negative controls. The specimens were then inserted into a dual chamber device and placed in contact with sterile brain-heart infusion broth. The roots were inoculated with 1 × 107 colony-forming units/mL of Enterococcus Faecalis, and the bacterial suspension was maintained in contact with the filling and renewed every 48 h, with daily observation for 60 days. The data were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier survival test. The filling sealers and the remaining filling were analyzed with a Chi-square test at a significance level of 5%. Results: Comparison of the MTA Fillapex and AH Plus sealers and filler lengths relative to time of contamination was not significantly different (p = 0.519), despite the smaller frequency of infiltration that was observed in the roots filled with MTA Fillapex with the 8-mm remaining filling. Conclusion: Despite the infiltration of E. faecalisin all of the conditions, the length of the remaining root and the time until infiltration were positively correlated as the time that was required for bacterial infiltration was greater in the group with the 8-mm-long remaining material compared to the group with the 4-mm-long remaining material.