• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2007

This study was done to evaluate transportation of the apical foramen after 0.5 mm overinstrumentation by ProFile, ProTaper and $K^3$ in simulated resin root canal. Sixty simulated resin root canal with a curvature of J and S-shape were divided into two groups. Each group consisted of three subgroups with 10 blocks according to the instruments used: $ProFile^{(R)},\;ProTaper^{TM},\;and\;K^{3TM}$. Simulated resin root canal was prepared by ProFile, ProTaper and $K^3$ with 300 rpm by the crown-down preparation technique. Pre- and post-instrumentation apical foramen images were overlapped and recorded with Image-analyzing microscope 100X (Camcope, Sometech Inc, Korea). The amounts of difference in width and dimension on overlapped images were measured after reference points were determined by Image Analysis program ($Image-Pro^{(R)}$ Express, Media Cybernetic, USA). Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-test. The results suggest that ProFile showed significantly less canal transportation and maintained original apical foramen shape better than $K^3$ and ProTaper.