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Introduction The purpose of this study was to evaluate dentinal tubule penetration (DTP) of calcium hydroxide (CH) and triple antibiotic paste (TAP) when performed with distilled water (DW) or a low surface tension liquid (ie, propylene glycol [PG]). Methods Root apices of 40 single-rooted premolars were removed to obtain 14-mm roots in length. Root canals were enlarged to simulate immature teeth. After smear layer removal, the roots were randomly divided into 4 groups ( n = 10) according to the root canal medicaments and the vehicles used: group 1:TAP + DW, group 2: TAP + PG, group 3: CH + DW, and group 4:CH + PG. Root canal medicaments were labeled with 0.1% rhodamine and applied into the canals using a Lentulo spiral. Specimens were molded into acrylic blocks, and 1-mm-thick sections were obtained from the middle third of each root. Specimens were mounted onto glass slides and scanned under a confocal laser scanning microscope. DTP depth, percentage, and area were measured using imaging software. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis. The level of significance was set at P Results No significant difference was found among the experimental groups in terms of both percentage and depth of DTP ( P > .05). CH had a lower penetration area compared with TAP regardless of the vehicle used ( P Conclusions A low surface tension vehicle did not alter the penetration of CH and TAP.

The aim of this study was 2-fold: to evaluate the penetration of a tricalcium silicate-based endodontic sealer (EndoSequence BC Sealer; Brasseler USA, Savannah, GA) into dentinal tubules without a core material (sealer) or with .02 or .04 tapered bioceramic gutta-percha points and to compare the time required to remove the root fillings .Roots of extracted human mandibular incisors (N = 60) were prepared with 0.04 taper nickel-titanium rotary files to #35 and randomly assigned into 3 groups (n = 10/group) according to the obturation method used: 1. obturating with sealer only, 2. sealer + .02 point, and 3. sealer + .04 point. The sealer was labeled with rhodamine B for analyzing dentinal tubule penetration under a confocal laser scanning microscope. The remaining specimens (n = 30) were used to measure the time for removal of the root canal fillings with retreatment files. The data were analyzed using 1-way analysis of variance and post hoc Games-Howell tests for dentinal tubule penetration and the Kruskal-Wallis test for retreatment time.Significantly greater sealer penetration and sealer-penetrated area was achieved when the sealer was used with a .04 gutta point (P.05), whereas there was no difference between the sealer and .02 gutta point groups (P.05). All test groups showed a similar depth of sealer penetration (P.05). Groups with the gutta-percha points required a similar time to remove root filling (P.05), whereas the working length could not be achieved in the sealer group.The use of a matched-taper bioceramic gutta-percha point enhanced the dentinal tubule penetration of the tested tricalcium silicate-based sealer. The use of a core material in conjunction with sealer facilitates removal of the root filling to the working length.