Comparative Analysis of Protaper and Waveone Systems to Reduce Enterococcus Faecalis from Root Canal System in Primary Molars--An in Vitro Study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess, in vitro, the ability of the ProTaper() and WaveOne() systems to reduce Enterococcus faecalis contamination in primary molars. STUDY DESIGN: Sixty roots of primary molars were contaminated with E. faecalis. Roots were randomly allocated to one of four groups (n=20): ProTaper(), WaveOne(), control A, or control B. The files used were S1 and S2/F1 and F2 (ProTaper() system) and 25.08 (WaveOne() system). In control group A, the root canal was left uninstrumented, whereas in control group B, the root canal was irrigated with NaCl 0.9%. E. faecalis was sampled from the root canal system before and after instrumentation and the Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U were used. RESULTS: There were no differences in E. faecalis counts between pre-instrumentation counts in the ProTaper and WaveOne() (p>0.05). The ProTaper() system led to an 89.36% reduction in E. faecalis burden, versus 78.10% with the WaveOne() system (p>0.05). Instrumentation time was shorter with WaveOne() (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The ProTaper() and WaveOne systems were equally effective in reducing Enterococcus faecalis in primary molars. The WaveOne() system was associated with shorter instrumentation time.