Abstract
It is of interest to document data on the push – out bond strength of three different root canal treatment sealers such as MTA Fillapex (MTA based), AH plus (Epoxy Resin based) and Apexit plus (Calcium hydroxide based). Forty-five freshly extracted human maxillary central incisors with closed apices were selected randomly. All the teeth were sectioned at cement-enamel junction using a diamond disc before starting the root canal preparation to obtain root length of 12 mm.All teeth were instrumented using ProTaper rotary instruments. 5.25% sodium hypoclorite was used for irrigation between instrumentation followed by 17% EDTA, and final rinse by saline. Obturation procedures were done using the gutta-percha single cone technique. 45 roots were randomly assigned to 3 groups of 15 for obturation with gutta-percha cones and 1 of the 3 sealers (n=15). Group 1 = MTA Fillapex sealer + gutta-percha: Group 2 = AH plus sealer + gutta-percha: Group 3 = Apexit plus sealer + gutta-percha. The roots were sectioned horizontally to its canal into 3 sections: Coronal, Mid-root and Apical-thirds using a precision cutting machine, with a thickness of 3 mm. The specimens were subjected to push-out test using a universal testing machine that carried a plunger. The loading speed was 1mm/min until the dislodgment of the material occurred. The independent t- test was used to compare the mean scores among the study groups. The level of significance was set at 5% for all tests. After the push-out bond strength test, each sample was evaluated under stereomicroscope (40x) to determine the mode of failure and recorded as one of the following categories: adhesive, cohesive or mixed. The observations thus obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Student - t test. AH Plus showed significantly higher values than MTA Fillapex and Apexit plus (p < 0.05). Amongst the push-out bond strength AH Plus sealer showed significant difference from MTA Fillapex and Apexit plus groups. There was no significant difference between MTA Fillapex and Apexit plus however (p>0.05). Microscopic analysis displayed that the majority of the modes were cohesive failures for AH Plus, adhesive failures for MTA Fillapex and mixed failures for Apexit Plus. . Thus, AH Plus had the highest bond strength and MTA Fillapex had the lowest bond strength to root dentin. Mean push-out bond strength values were ranked as follows; AH Plus >Apexit Plus > MTA Fillapex. Microscopic analysis displayed that the majority of the modes were cohesive failures of AH Plus, adhesive failures for MTA Fillapex and mixed failures for Apexit Plus.