INTRODUCTION: Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solutions with added wetting agents are advertised to dissolve necrotic tissue in root canals faster than their counterparts without a lowered surface tension. This was tested in the current study, and the null hypothesis formulated was that there was no difference between a commercially available NaOCl solution with a lowered surface tension (Chlor-XTRA; Vista Dental Products, Racine, WI) and a counterpart containing the same amount of available chlorine without added wetting agents regarding the soft tissue that remains in oval-shaped canals after mechanical preparation and irrigation. METHODS: Formerly vital extracted teeth (N = 44, 22 pairs) with similar anatomy were radiographically paired and chemomechanically prepared. In 1 tooth from each pair, a 5.25% NaOCl solution with reduced surface tension was used; in the other, a pure, technical-grade NaOCl solution of 5.25% was used. The percentage of remaining pulp tissue (PRPT) was histologically assessed in root cross-sections. The non-Gaussian raw data were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis and MannWhitney U tests to verify the respective effect of the cross-section level and solution on the PRPT. The relationship between the cross-section level and the PRPT was estimated by the Spearman correlation test. The alpha-type error was set at 5%. RESULTS: The cross-section level significantly influenced the PRPT (P < .05), whereas the PRPT was not influenced by the solution used (P > .05). A significant inverse correlation was found between the cross-section level and the PRPT (P < .05, r = -0.330). The lower the distance to the apex, the higher the PRPT regardless of the solution used. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the advertised statement, the dental solution with a reduced surface tension did not dissolve vital pulp tissue in oval root canals any better than a conventional NaOCl solution of similar strength. Closer to the apex, pulp tissue dissolution is less efficient irrespective of the solution.

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The electronic method has been studied and improved aiming to add precision, speed and reliability of the measurement technique to determine the exact location of the working length. Currently, the root canal preparation recommends prior to determine the tooth length and consequent perform instrumentation of the apical portion, a previous preflaring of the cervical and middle thirds in various techniques. This procedure may provide a reduction in system impedance, leading to read errors by the apex locators. Objective: Investigate the influence of preflaring of the cervical and middle thirds on the accuracy of measuring the working length by apex locators. Material and methods: Twenty-five mesial roots of molars were used and had their crowns cut at the cemento-enamel junction. The actual measure of each root canal was performed and then the samples were embedded into a mixture of alginate, used as a conducting medium, where electronic measurements were taken with apex locator before and after preflaring of the canals with Gates-Glidden drills in descending order (#4, #3, #2). Measurements obtained by electronic method were then compared with the actual measurement of the root canal. The results were tabulated and submitted to the Student t test Results: The results show that there was no statistical significance (p<0.05) between the readings before and after preflaring. Readings closer to the foraminal ending occurred in the group after preflaring with Gates Glidden. Conclusion: It was concluded that preflaring with Gates Glidden drills were not able to influence significantly the accuracy of apex locator in determining the exact working length.