Outcome of root canal treatment using Soft-Core and cold lateral compaction filling techniques: a randomized clinical trial.

AIM: The purpose of this clinical and radiographic investigation was to evaluate the treatment outcomes of endodontically treated teeth obturated with Soft-Core versus cold lateral compaction. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A total of 98 teeth were endodontically prepared using the Quantec LX rotary system with a crown-down pressureless technique and obturated with either Soft-Core or cold lateral compaction. The outcome of treatments were evaluated clinically and radiographically by two blinded evaluators after three years. Statistical analysis was performed using an unpaired t-test and the Mann Whitney test at the level of significance set at 95%. RESULTS: Regardless of the periapical status of the teeth, no statistically significant difference was found between the two obturation techniques (p > 0.05). The Kappa value for the interobserver agreement was 0.73. CONCLUSION: Within the limits of the study, it is concluded the Soft-Core obturation technique did not result in a significantly different treatment outcome when compared with cold lateral compaction after three years. Further investigations should be carried out on the Soft-Core technique. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Using the Soft-Core system reduced working time, and the difference was found to be statistically different (p = 0.00056) from the working time required for cold lateral compaction. This reduction in canal filling time holds the potential for cost savings for clinicians while maintaining the quality of the clinical outcome.

Mandibular bone changes in sickle cell anemia: fractal analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The radiographic changes of mandibular bone texture was evaluated in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and healthy controls. Fractal analysis was employed. STUDY DESIGN: Thirty-five individuals (age range 11 to 40 years) who had been diagnosed as having homozygous SCA were enrolled as the patient group. Twenty-six healthy individuals within the same age range constituted the controls. Panoramic radiographs of all subjects were obtained using analog film and then digitized. All procedures for calculation of the fractal dimension were performed using Image J version 1.34s software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD). ROIs were selected as 64 x 64 pixel-sized squares, which were located between the first molar and second premolar teeth of the right mandibular segment. The fractal dimension (FD) was calculated by using the box-counting function. FD values of SCA and control groups were analyzed statistically by using Student t tests; alpha was set at 0.05. RESULTS: The FD values for SCA patients were different from those of the healthy controls (mean FD SCA = 1.6855; mean FD controls = 1.7196); with a significance of P = .050. FD values for the SCA group had higher standard deviations (SD) than was the case for the healthy controls (SCA SD = 0.0859, control SD = 0.0459). When individuals were subclassified according to their age being younger than 20 or 20 years and over, the mean FD values of patients under 20 years of age were significantly lower than both the SCA patients over 20 years of age and all of the healthy controls (P < .05). CONCLUSION: SCA patients under age 20 years showed lower FD values than the controls and this finding pointed to scarcity of trabecular bone in this group.