The sealing ability of Thermafil obturators assessed by four different microleakage techniques.

An in vitro investigation was performed to assess the extent of apical dye leakage in relation to root fillings made by Thermafil obturators and the lateral condensation of gutta-percha in extracted human teeth under conditions of passive dye penetration, centrifugation, a vacuum technique and an increased air pressure technique. One hundred and twenty-eight extracted teeth were selected and prepared. The specimens were allocated into eight closely matched experimental groups. Four groups were obturated with Thermafil obturators and four with the lateral condensation technique. Microleakage was assessed after exposing one group of specimens from each of the obturation techniques to each of the four dye penetration systems using India ink as the leakage detector. The teeth were demineralized and cleared prior to examination and the maximum dye penetration for each specimen was recorded. The statistical analysis on transformed data revealed no significant differences between the four microleakage techniques and no differences between the two obturation techniques.