The effect of medicaments used in endodontic regeneration on root fracture and microhardness of radicular dentine

Aim To investigate the effect of medicaments used in endodontic regeneration on root fracture resistance and microhardness of radicular dentine. Methodology The root canals of mandibular premolars (n = 180) were instrumented and randomized into three treatment groups and an untreated control group. Each treatment group received either triple antibiotic paste (TAP), double antibiotic paste (DAP) or calcium hydroxide paste [Ca(OH)2] intracanal medicament. Teeth were kept in saline for 1 week, 1 month or 3 months. After each time-point, 15 teeth were randomly selected from each group and two root cylinders were obtained from each tooth. One cylinder was subjected to a fracture resistance test, and the other cylinder was used for a microhardness test. Two-way anova and Tukey's pairwise comparisons were used for statistical analysis. Results For the microhardness test, the two-way interaction between group and time was significant (P < 0.001). The intracanal application of TAP and DAP caused significant and continuous decrease in root dentine microhardness after one (P < 0.05) and 3 months (P < 0.001), respectively. The three-month intracanal application of Ca(OH)2 significantly increased the microhardness of root dentine (P < 0.05). The time factor had a significant effect on fracture resistance (P < 0.001). The three intracanal medicaments caused significant decreases in fracture resistance ranging between 19% and 30% after 3-month application compared to 1-week application. Conclusion In this laboratory study, the 3-month application of triple antibiotic paste, double antibiotic paste or calcium hydroxide paste medicaments significantly reduced the root fracture resistance of extracted teeth compared to a 1-week application.