The Effect of Reciprocating Instrument and Root Canal Filling Techniques on Post-operative Pain in Retreatment: A Prospective Clinical Study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this prospective clinical study was to assess the effect of different instruments and root canal filling techniques on post-operative pain in single visit of endodontic retreatment. METHODS: Forty five patients (18-65 yrs old) who needed non-surgical endodontic retreatment in mandibular premolar or molar teeth without any symptoms were included in this study. The teeth were randomly assigned into 3 groups of 15 teeth, according to the instrumentation and filling techniques: hand files with lateral compaction (group 1), Reciproc with lateral compaction (group 2), Reciproc with continuous wave compaction technique (group 3). Retreatments were performed in a single visit and post operative pain was assesed at 4 intervals; 24, 48,72 hours and 7 days. All data were analyzed using One way Anova, Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact test and the significance level was set to (p≤0.05). RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was found among the groups in relation to post-operative pain (p>0.05). Although the intensity of post-operative pain was decreased over the time in all groups, significant difference was found only in Reciproc groups (p<0.05). However, no pain was found in any patient at the end of 7 day. Also, statistically significant difference was found between pain intense and periapical index in 24 and 72 hours (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: In the present study, the intensity of post-operative pain was not found to be related to instrumentation or filling techniques in retreatment cases. The intensity of pain could be related to periapical index of the tooth.