Plugger temperature of cordless heat carriers according to the time elapsed

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to measure the temperature of the plugger tip of 3 cordless heat carriers set at 200°C. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pluggers of the same taper (0.06, 0.08, 0.10) and similar tip sizes (sizes of 50 and 55) from 3 cordless heat carriers, namely SuperEndo-α(2) (B & L Biotech), Friendo (DXM), and Dia-Pen (Diadent), were used and an electric heat carrier, System B (SybronEndo), was used as the control. The plugger tips were covered with customized copper sleeves, heated for 10 seconds, and the temperature was recorded with a computerized measurement system attached to a K-type thermometer at room temperature (n = 10). The data were analyzed with 2-way analysis of variance at a 5% level of significance. RESULTS: The peak temperature of the plugger tips was significantly affected by the plugger taper and by the heat carrier brand (p < 0.05). The peak temperature of the plugger tips was between 177°C and 325°C. The temperature peaked at 207°C–231°C for the 0.06 taper pluggers, 195°C–313°C for the 0.08 taper pluggers, and 177°C–325°C for the 0.10 taper pluggers. Only 5 of the 12 plugger tips showed a temperature of 200°C ± 10°C. The time required to reach the highest temperature or 200°C ± 10°C was at least 4 seconds. CONCLUSION: When using cordless heat carriers, clinicians should pay attention to the temperature setting and to the activation time needed to reach the intended temperature of the pluggers.