Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sealing ability of the Microseal$^{(R)}$, which was new obturation system made by Tycom company, U.S.A. Forty-five extracted single-rooted human teeth were resected at cemento-enamel junction and divided three groups. All canals were prepared using Profile system, and then each group was obturated by lateral condensation technique (group 1), vertical condensation technique (group 2) and Microseal$^{(R)}$ condensation technique (group 3) with root canal sealer. Teeth were immersed in resorcinol-formaldehyde resin for 5 days at $4^{\circ}C$ and the resin was allowed to polymerize completely for 4 days at room temperature. Teeth were resected horizontally at 1 mm (level I), 2 mm (level II), 3 mm (level III) from the anatomical root apex using low speed microtome and examined with Image analyzer (IBASR, Zeiss co., Germany.) at ${\times}25$ magnification. The gab between the canal wall and the filling material, which was filled with the resin, was measured at each of the three levels. Each ratio of leakage was expressed percentage by calculating the ratio of the area of the resin to the total area of the canal and was analyzed statistically (one-way ANOVA). The results were as follows; 1. The mean ratio of leakage (%) was 6.46% at group 1, 3.06% at group 2, 11.27% at group 3. 2. When evaluating the ratio of leakage at the three levels, there was level I> level II> level III in all groups. Especially, the difference between level I and level III was statistically significant (p<0.05). 3. When evaluating the ratio of leakage at the three groups, there was group 3> group 1> group 2 at all levels. Especially the difference between group 2 and group 3 was statistically significant (p<0.05).