A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Chloroform in Dissolving Resilon and Gutta-Percha

OBJECTIVE: Application of chemical solvents especially in problematic canals is usually a part of the retreatment process. This study was performed to compare the solubility of Gutta-Percha and Resilon in chloroform and to find the effect of sample thickness as well as the time of shaking on their solubility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Specific weight of Resilon and gutta-percha was placed in a sample tube and after adding 1.0 ml of chloroform at 37ºC, the tubes were capped and shaked for 1, 3 and 5 minutes. The amount of non dissolved material was determined by reweighting of each sample and the percent of solubility was assessed according to the exact weight loss of the samples. The procedure was repeated three times for a given thickness and time of shaking. The difference in the solubility of Gutta-Percha and Resilon as well as the effect of sample thickness and time of shaking on solubility were assessed by repeated measurement ANOVA (p<0.05). RESULTS: Resilon has significantly higher solubility than Gutta-Percha in chloroform (p<0.05). Resilon as well as Gutta-Percha Solubility are increased significantly over the time .The amount of solubility is not affected by sample thickness. CONCLUSION: Comparison of Resilon and Gutta-Percha solubility in chloroform shows that one of the advantages for Resilon could be the chance for using possible safer organic solvents during retreatment.