The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of pulp chamber calcifications in a sample of Turkish dental patients and to report associations between presence of pulp chamber calcifications and dental status, gender, age, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Data were collected through radiographic examination of periapical and bitewing radiographs of 15,326 teeth from 536 dental patients, comprising 270 male and 266 female patients aged between 13 and 65 years. Definite radiopaque focuses inside the radiolucent pulp chamber were defined as pulp chamber calcifications. When the pulp chamber was completely radiolucent, that tooth was scored as tooth without pulp chamber calcification. The dental status was scored as intact, carious, restored, or restored + carious. Pulp chamber calcifications were identified in 204 (38%) patients examined. Of the 15,326 teeth, 747 (4.8%) had pulp chamber calcifications. Gender and dental status were found to be correlated with the presence of pulp chamber calcifications. The high prevalence of pulp chamber calcifications in carious, restored, and restored + carious teeth support the view that the occurrence of pulp chamber calcifications can be a response to long-standing irritants. However, to report any associations between occurrence of pulp chamber calcifications and different dental or clinical status, further studies are still needed.

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of five different root-canal sealers (RoekoSeal, Ketac-Endo, AH Plus, Sealapex, Sultan). With the use of Enterococcus faecalis as a test organism, both the agar-diffusion test (ADT) and direct-contact test (DCT) were performed. For DCT, sealers were mixed and placed on the sidewall of microtiter plate wells. A 10-microl bacterial suspension was placed on the tested material samples. Bacteria were allowed to directly contact to the sealers for 1 h at 37 degrees C. Bacterial growth was then spectrophotometrically measured through every 30 min for 19 h by using an Anthos Labtec HT 2. For ADT, a 200-microl bacterial suspension was spread on brain-heart infusion agar plates. Freshly mixed sealers were poured into uniform wells punched in the agar. After periods of incubation at 37 degrees C for 24 h and 7 days in humid atmosphere, the zones of inhibition of bacterial growth on agar plates were observed and measured. Ketac-Endo, Sultan, and AH Plus had similar results for DCT. These sealers were more potent bacterial-growth inhibitors than Sealapex and RoekoSeal. According to ADT, RoekoSeal showed no antibacterial activity. There was no significant difference among AH Plus, Sealapex, and Sultan (p > 0.05). Ketac-Endo demonstrated lower antimicrobial activity than these sealers (p < 0.05). Time had no effect on the antibacterial activity of the tested sealers (p > 0.05). The antibacterial efficiency of the materials varied according to the tests used. It was concluded that the technique, time, and ingredients of the tested material can affect the results of the microbiological studies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of post-treatment time on the shear bond strength of composite resin to enamel after bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide (CP) and 35% hydrogen peroxide (HP) bleaching systems. One hundred and thirty-five flattened labial enamel surfaces obtained from human mandibular incisors were divided into two bleaching groups of 10% CP (n = 60) and 35% HP (n = 60) and a control group (n = 15). Specimens in the control group (group 1) were not bleached. Each bleaching group was then divided into four subgroups (n = 15). For both CP and HP groups, group 2 consisted of specimens bonded immediately after bleaching. In groups 3, 4, and 5, specimens were immersed in artificial saliva for 24 h, 1 week, or 2 weeks after bleaching, respectively. After the specimens were bonded with Clearfil SE Bond and Clearfil ST, they were tested in shear until failure. For both CP and HP groups, shear bond strength of composite resin to enamel that was bonded immediately after bleaching was significantly lower than that of unbleached enamel (p < 0.05). However, in CP group restored after 24 h, the bond strength returned to values close to those of nonbleached enamel (p > 0.05). It took 1 week to return to conditions that lead to control bond values for HP bleaching applications (p > 0.05). The results of this study proved that immediate bonding of composite to enamel bleached with 10% CP and 35% HP gels result in a significant decrease in shear bond strength. It is advisable that composite resin application onto bleached enamel surfaces should be delayed at least 24 h for 10% CP and 1 week for 35% HP.

SUMMARYAim: This study compared the fracture resistance of endodontically-treated mandibular molars with mesio-occluso-distal (MOD) cavities restored using different restoration techniques. Methodology: Sixty sound extracted mandibular molars were randomly assigned to six groups (n=10). Group 1 did not receive any preparation.The teeth in Groups 2-6 received root canal treatment and a MOD cavity preparation. The teeth in Group 2 were kept unrestored. Group 3 was restored conventionally with amalgam. Group 4 was restored with a dentin bonding system (DBS, Clearfil SE Bond) and resin composite (CR) (Clearfil Photoposterior). Group 5 was restored with indirect hybrid ceramic inlay material (Estenia). In Group 6, polyethylene ribbon fiber (Ribbond) was inserted into cavities in a buccalto-lingual direction and the teeth were then restored with DBS and CR. After finishing and polishing, the specimens, except for Group 2, were loaded to failure by a chewing simulation device ( To restore endodontically-treated molars, the use of indirect hybrid inlay restorations may be recommended due to their more favorable fracture failure modes compared with amalgam, resin composite and fiber-reinforced resin composite restoration techniques and their greater fracture resistance compared with amalgam restorations. . There were statistically significant differences between the groups annotated with different letters. Thus, Group 1 (intact teeth) had the greatest fracture resistance and Group 2 (non-restored teeth) the poorest. No statistically significant differences were found between Groups 3 (amalgam), 4 (resin composite) and 6 (polyethylene ribbon fiber reinforced composite) (p>0.05). Group 5 (indirect hybrid ceramic inlay) had greater fracture resistance than Group 3 (p<0.05). Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, although all of the restoration groups were stronger than the prepared-only group, none of the restoration techniques tested was able to completely restore the fracture resistance lost from MOD cavity preparation. However, use of indirect hybrid inlay restorations in these teeth may be recommended, because this restoration technique indicated more favorable fracture failure modes than other restoration techniques used in this study and particularly greater fracture strength than amalgam restorations. The promising result of indirect hybrid inlay restorations may need to be confirmed by long-term clinical studies.

The aim of this in vitro study was to determine the effect of the smear layer on apical and coronal leakage in root canals obturated with AH26 or RoekoSeal sealers. A total of 160 maxillary anterior teeth extracted for periodontal reasons were used. The root canals were prepared to a size #7 with ProFile.06 taper Series 29 rotary instruments in a crown-down manner. Eight groups were created by all possible combinations of three factors: smear layer (present/absent), leakage assessment (apical/coronal), and sealer used (AH26/RoekoSeal). All teeth were obturated using lateral condensation technique of gutta-percha. A fluid filtration method was used to test apical or coronal leakage. According to the results of this study, the smear (+) groups displayed higher apical and coronal leakage than those smear (-) groups for both root canal sealers (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in either apical or coronal leakage between RoekoSeal and AH26, regardless of the presence or absence of the smear layer (p > 0.05). However, apical leakage was significantly higher than coronal leakage for both root canal sealers used in this study (p < 0.05). Under the conditions of this study, the results indicate that removal of the smear layer has a positive effect in reducing apical and coronal leakage for both AH26 and RoekoSeal root canal sealers.