RESUMO
Objectives Over many years, many intracanal irrigants have removed smear layers during routine root canal therapy. The efficacies of conventional endodontic chemical irrigants are documented, but limited research is available on herbal irrigants' role in the endodontic therapy irrigation protocol. This study aimed to evaluate endodontic irrigants' smear layer removal efficacy, namely, 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), green tea extract, and Triphala extract, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Methods Fifty freshly extracted human permanent maxillary and mandibular single-rooted teeth were collected from the Oral Surgery Department of Regional Dental College (RDC), Guwahati, India. The samples were divided into five groups with 10 teeth each: Group A: sterile distilled water (negative control), Group B: 3% NaOCl, Group C: 17% EDTA, Group D: green tea, and Group E: Triphala (citric acid). Each tooth was then longitudinally split and prepared for SEM inspection under 1000X magnification. The comparison of smear layer removal scores between the groups was done by the Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test, with the significance level set at p<0.01. Results The comparison of the overall mean smear scores and those at different root portions shows that Group C has the lowest mean score, followed by Group E. The pairwise comparison shows that the difference in the mean smear scores between Group C and the other four groups is statistically significant (p-value<0.05). Moreover, the difference in the overall, coronal, middle, and apical mean smear scores between Group A and Group E was highly significant (p-value<0.001). Conclusions The highest smear layer removal efficacy was observed in the samples treated with 17% EDTA. Moreover, the clearing efficacy of Triphala is significantly better than that of distilled water in smear layer removal.
RESUMO
Objectives An ideal restorative material should be capable of supplanting the biological, functional, and aesthetic qualities of a healthy tooth structure. There has always been a search for optimal and aesthetically pleasing restorative materials. This study aims to evaluate the surface roughness and colour stability of three nanohybrid composite resins post-exposure to mouth rinse and colouring beverages. Methods One hundred and twenty specimens of dimension 10 mm x 8 mm x 1 mm were randomly allocated into three equal-sized groups and fabricated using three different nanohybrid composites (Group A: Filtek Z250 XT, Group B: Tetric N-Ceram, and Group C: Solare Sculpt). Sixty samples, comprising 20 from each group, were examined for colour stability and 60 for surface roughness after exposure to chlorhexidine and coffee. Baseline and post-exposure readings of the surface roughness and colour absorbance of the specimens were obtained by atomic force microscopy and spectrophotometer, respectively. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test followed by a post hoc Tukey's test and an independent t-test were used for data analysis, considering a p-value<0.05 as significant. Results Irrespective of the composite, the surface roughness and colour change were substantially higher in the samples exposed to coffee (p-value<0.01). Filtek Z 250XT showed significantly minor changes in colour and surface roughness, followed by Solare Sculpt and Tetric N-Ceram (p-value<0.05). Conclusion Coffee caused more surface roughness and colour changes compared to chlorhexidine. Filtek 250 XT showed minor changes in colour and surface roughness on exposure to both solutions.
