Comparative Evaluation of the Efficacy of Novel Root Canal Irrigation Techniques on Reduction of Enterococcus faecalis Count: An In Vitro Study.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE To compare the effectiveness of three irrigation systems, namely, Endovac system, Max I probe, and Navitip FX, in reduction of Enterococcus faecalis population from the root canal using agar diffusion method. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty extracted intact human permanent maxillary anterior teeth were selected for this study. In group I, root canals were irrigated using brush covered 30-gauge NaviTipFX. Ultradent in group II root canals was irrigated using brush covered 30-gauge Max-I-Probe Dentsply. In group III, root canals were irrigated using Endoactivator, Dentsply. In group IV, root canal was irrigated by using the Endovac system Sybronendo. The steps followed in the study include preparation of specimen, contamination of the samples followed by conduction of testing procedures with implementation of appropriate irrigation protocols, and sampling procedures. RESULTS Data were subjected to statistical analysis to interpret the significant differences among various irrigation systems. One-way analysis of variance, Post hoc Tukey tests were used for statistical analysis in the present study. Among the experimental groups, group IV showed statistically significant difference in reduction of E. faecalis. There were no statistical differences between them in reduction of E. faecalis in group I and group II compared and represented in Tables 1 and 2. CONCLUSION All four irrigation delivery systems have been found to be effective in the reduction of E. faecalis. Endovac showed comparable efficacy in reduction of colony-forming units to that of other delivery systems used in the study. The result has to be validated with in vivo studies and clinical trials of larger sample size. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Selection of appropriate irrigation system capable of disinfection of canal complexities in apical third with less adverse effects is essential for good clinical success of endodontic treatment.