An Experimental Study on the Cutting and Canal Shaping Ability of the Ultrasonic Devices

초음파 근관치료기기의 절삭 및 근관 성형능력에 관한 실험적 연구

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Ultrasonic devices in root canal enlargement, about the effects on the canal shape and on the cutting ability beyond the curvature in curved canals. 180 resin blocks with $40^{\circ}$ curvature in apical third and 16mm long canal were made of epoxy resin and smooth broaches. These blocks were devided into six groups. According to the devices (ENAC$^{(R)}$, HARMOSONIC$^{(R)}$, Sonic Air MM 3000$^{(R)}$) and files (Zipperer file, H-file, Flexofile, K-file, Sharper file), five groups were instrumented one minute with # 15 files, then the enlarged size was measured. And # 20 files were used again in the same groups, then the enlarged size was measured. In control group, the time which was taken to enlarge the canal from # 15 to # 20 by hand technique was measured. The data was analyzed statistically. Then the enlarged shapes were evaluated in six groups with the stereomicroscope and recorded in ideal and non-ideal canal shape to compare the effects of ultrasonic devices on the canal shape. Only the ideal shaped canals were used in the study whether the cutting ability beyond the curvature in curved canals was, or not. The files with whole flutes, no flutes, and flutes in apical 5mm only were used. The weight differences of pre-and post-instrumentation by Sonic Air MM 3000$^{(R)}$ for two minutes were compared. The results were as follow: 1. Intracanal instrumentation for 1 minute with ultrasonic devices using # 15 and # 20 file in curved root canal of the epoxy resin block can not reach to the next file size. 2. Sonic Air MM 3000$^{(R)}$ shows higher cutting ability than the other two devices (p=0.001), however the percentage of non-ideal canal shape was the highest. 3. Two ultrasonic devices except Sonic Air MM 3000 considered normal in ideal canal shaping ability. 4. little cutting ability was shown beyond the curvature of curved canals.