Epiphany sealer penetration into dentinal tubules: Confocal laser scanning microscopic study

AIMS: The aim of the following study was to evaluate the percentage and average depth of epiphany sealer penetration into dentinal tubules among the coronal, middle and apical thirds of the root using the confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 10 maxillary central incisors were prepared and obturated with Resilon-Epiphany system. Sealer was mixed with fluorescent rhodamine B isothiyocyanate dye for visibility under confocal microscope. Teeth were cross-sectioned into coronal, middle and apical sections-2 mm thick. Sections were observed under CLSM. Images were analyzed for percentage and average depth of sealer penetration into dentinal tubules using the lasso tool in Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Adobe systems incorporated, San jose, CA) and laser scanning microscopy (LSM 5) image analyzer. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: One-way analysis of variance with Student Neuman Keuls post hoc tests, Kruskal-Wallis test and Wilcoxon signed-rank post hoc tests. RESULTS: The results showed that a higher percentage of sealer penetration in coronal section-89.23%, followed by middle section-84.19% and the apical section-64.9%. Average depth of sealer penetration for coronal section was 526.02 μm, middle-385.26 μm and apical-193.49 μm. CONCLUSIONS: Study concluded that there was higher epiphany sealer penetration seen in coronal followed by middle and least at apical third of the roots.