Journal of Applied Oral Science (Oct 2012)

In vivo accuracy of conventional and digital radiographic methods in confirming root canal working length determination by Root ZX

  • Fernando Accorsi Orosco,
  • Norberti Bernardineli,
  • Roberto Brandão Garcia,
  • Clovis Monteiro Bramante,
  • Marco Antonio Húngaro Duarte,
  • Ivaldo Gomes de Moraes

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-77572012000500005
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 5
pp. 522 – 525

Abstract

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OBJECTIVES: To compare, in vivo, the accuracy of conventional and digital radiographic methods in determining root canal working length. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-five maxillary incisor or canine teeth from 22 patients were used in this study. Considering the preoperative radiographs as the baseline, a 25 K file was inserted into the root canal to the point where the Root ZX electronic apex locator indicated the APEX measurement in the screen. From this measurement, 1 mm was subtracted for positioning the file. The radiographic measurements were made using a digital sensor (Digora 1.51) or conventional type-E films, size 2, following the paralleling technique, to determine the distance of the file tip and the radiographic apex. RESULTS: The Student "t" test indicated mean distances of 1.11 mm to conventional and 1.20 mm for the digital method and indicated a significant statistical difference (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The conventional radiographic method was found to be superior to the digital one in determining the working length of the root canal.

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