Comparative analysis of four cleaning methods of endodontic files

Resumo

Due to the size and design of endodontic files, these
instruments have been considered one of the most difficult to clean
among all dental instruments. The debris maintenance within the
sulcus prevents the effective sterilization and may compromise the
disinfection of root canal systems in endodontic therapy. However,
there is neither a method nor technique that standardized the cleaning
of these instruments. Objective: To evaluate the cleaning ability of
four techniques used in dentistry. Material and methods: For this
purpose, 30 new size #40 Flexofile were used for the preparation of
the canals of mandibular molars of pigs. After instrumentation, the
contamination and the presence of debris in the sulcus was confirmed
and the files were randomly divided into four groups: control group
(without cleaning), group 1 (enzymatic detergent + manual brushing
with nylon bristle brush), group 2 (ultrasound + enzymatic detergent),
group 3 (ultrasound + water) and group 4 (gauze embedded in 70%
alcohol). Next, all files were photographed and photographs were
printed at high quality. The spirals containing debris were counted.
Results: Manual cleaning with enzymatic detergent and nylon
bristle brush, ultrasound with either water or detergent showed the best cleaning capacity in which respectively 100%, 98.9% and
96.2%, of the spirals were free of debris. Cleaning with alcohol and
gauze proved to be ineffective, showing debris in more than 40% of
the spirals by visual analysis. In control group, 91% of the spirals
presented debris. It can be concluded that the association between
manual and ultrasound cleaning may be promising in ensuring a
cleaning protocol for endodontic files cleaning.