No difference in root canal instrumentation of the apical third between reciproc® and waveone®

Most instrumentation techniques leave 35% or more of the root canal wall non-instrumented due to the oval shape of the apical third of the root canal wall. Oscillation movement instruments have claimed to clean the whole area of the root canal wall while maintaining the original canal shape during preparation. Objective: To compare the non-instrumented area at the apical third of the root canal wall after preparation using Reciproc® and WaveOne® oscillation instruments. Method: The pulp tissues of 32 human mandibular premolars were removed and the root canals were filled with China ink. Of these teeth, 16 were instrumented with the R25 Reciproc® instrument with VDW Silver Reciproc® endomotor. The other 16 teethwere instrumented with the WaveOne® Primary 25/08 file with WaveOne® endomotor. Roots were bisected longitudinally in a buccolingual direction, photographed, and analyzed using Adobe Photoshop CS5 software. The apical third of the canal walls were evaluated for total canal wall area versus remnant non-instrumented area on which China ink remained. Results: WaveOne® had a lower percent of non-instrumented area than Reciproc®, but this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.27). Conclusion: There are no significant difference between the percentage of non-instrumented area at the apical third of the root canal wall after instrumentation by Reciproc® and WaveOne®. While the observed differences were not significant, root canal walls instrumented by WaveOne® had a lower percent of non-instrumented area.