Shaping Ability of Three ProFile Rotary Instrumentation Techniques in Simulated Resin Root Canals

Kum, Ki-Yon DDS, PhD
Spängberg, Larz DDS, PhD
Cha, Bruce Y. DMD
Il-Young, Jung DDS, MSD
Seung-Jong, Lee DDS, PhD
Chan-Young, Lee DDS, PhD

Dr. Kum is assistant professor, Dr. Il-Young is an instructor, Dr. Seung-Jong is a professor, and Dr. Chan-Young is a professor and chairman, Department of Endodontics, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Dr. Spångberg is professor and head, and Dr. Cha is assistant clinical professor, Department of Endodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT.

Address requests for reprints to Dr. Larz Spängberg, Professor and Head, Department of Endodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030-1715

This study was supported in part by the Yonsei Dental Hospital Research Grant (1998).

Journal of Endodontics 26(12):p 719-723, December 2000.

The aim of this study was to compare the shaping ability of three ProFile rotary instrumentation techniques and a conventional step-back method in simulated root canals. Prevalence of canal aberrations, change in working length, and preparation time were measured. A total of 48 composite images were made from pre- and postcanal scanned images using Corel Photopaint 8.0 and then the amount of coronal substance the instruments removed was also calculated two-dimensionally on digitized images with the Brain C software to compare the enlarging efficiency. There were no significant differences between the three rotary groups in preparation time, change in working length, and the incidence of aberrations (p > 0.05). The amount of coronal substance the instruments removed in the ProFile .04 taper group was significantly smaller than the other three groups (p < 0.05).