Efficacy of three thermoplastic obturation techniques in filling oval-shaped root canals.

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of the thermoplastic filling techniques, Touch'n Heat(R), TC(R) System and Tagger's Hybrid Technique, in oval-shaped canals at the apical third.Thirty-three human uniradicular lower pre-molar teeth were treated by the reciprocating movement technique and were subsequently split into 3 groups, according to the filling technique performed:Touch'n Heat (TH), TC System (TC) and the Tagger's Hybrid Technique (TG).In the sequence, the teeth were sectioned at 2mm and 4mm from the foramen and images were taken to measure the percentage of canal area filled with the obturation materials as well as void spaces.Data were submitted for Kruskal-Wallis statistical analysis. Irrespective of levels, data showed that the TC System delivered the best results.(p<0,001).At 2mm and 4mm levels, there was no difference between the TG technique and the TH technique (p<0,001).With all the techniques and at all levels, no differences were observed regarding the void area variable.(p>0,001).The techniques evaluated showed an adequate filling with obturation materials and the TC has reached the highest filling with the guta-percha material.