Effect of root canal filling techniques on the bond strength of epoxy resin-based sealers

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different root canal filling techniques on the bond strength of epoxy resin-based sealers. Sixty single-rooted canines were prepared using ProTaper (F5) and divided into the following groups based on the root filling technique: Lateral Compaction (LC), Single Cone (SC), and Tagger Hybrid Technique (THT). The following subgroups (n = 10) were also created based on sealer material used: AH Plus and Sealer 26. Two-millimeter-thick slices were cut from all the root thirds and subjected to push-out test. Data (MPa) was analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's test (alpha = 0.05). The push-out values were significantly affected by the sealer, filling technique, and root third (p < 0.05). AH Plus (1.37 +/- 1.04) exhibited higher values than Sealer 26 (0.92 +/- 0.51), while LC (1.80 +/- 0.98) showed greater bond strength than THT (1.16 +/- 0.50) and SC (0.92 +/- 0.25). The cervical (1.45 +/- 1.14) third exhibited higher bond strength, followed by the middle (1.20 +/- 0.72) and apical (0.78 +/- 0.33) thirds. AH Plus/LC (2.26 +/- 1.15) exhibited the highest bond strength values, followed by AH Plus/THT (1.32 +/- 0.61), Sealer 26/LC (1.34 +/- 0.42), and Sealer 26/THT (1.00 +/- 0.27). The lowest values were obtained with AH Plus/SC and Sealer 26/SC. Thus, it can be concluded that the filling technique affects the bond strength of sealers. LC was associated with higher bond strength between the material and intra-radicular dentine than THT and SC techniques.