Dentinal tubular penetration ability of epoxy resin-based and bioceramic-based root canal sealers

Background The purpose of this study was to compare AH Plus Bioceramic Sealer (AHPB), AH Plus (AHP), MTA Fillapex (MTAF), and Sure-Seal (SS) sealers for dentinal tubular penetration ability. Methods Forty extracted human mandibular premolars were instrumented and divided into 4 groups based on the sealer used for filling (n = 10): AHPB, AHP, MTAF, SS. After filling the root canals, the roots were entombed in acrylic resin blocks and cut vertically in the long axis to obtain 1-mm-thick disks from 3 mm (at apical third), 8 mm (at middle third) and 13 mm (at coronal third) away the apical foramen. The images of 120 samples (30 for each group) were scanned by using confocal laser scanning microscopy and analyzed with the ImageJ software. Total penetration area and the root canal area were measured, and the ratio of these values were recorded as sealer penetration ratio. The data were evaluated for each third and in total using one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey's test. The significance level was set to P < 0.05. Results In the apical, middle and coronal thirds and in total, MTAF and AHP, and SS and AHPB had statistically significant identical penetration ratio values. Both SS and AHPB demonstrated statistically considerably greater penetration % as compared to MTAF and AHP in all thirds (P < 0.05), and in total (P < 0.05). Conclusion AHPB and SS provided a higher penetration % than AHP and MTAF in apical, middle and coronal thirds, and in total.