Dissolution of a mineral trioxide aggregate sealer in endodontic solvents compared to conventional sealers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the solubility of a Mineral Trioxide Aggregate sealer (MTA-Fillapex) compared with five other sealers, calcium hydroxide (Sealapex), resin (Realseal), zinc oxide-eugenol (Tubli-Seal), and two epoxy resins (AH-26 and AH-Plus), in chloroform and eucalyptoil in static and ultrasonic environments. Samples of each sealer were prepared (n = 180) and then divided into 12 groups that were immersed in solvents for 5 and 10 min in static and ultrasonic environments. The mean weight loss was determined, and the values were compared using Student's t-test, One-way ANOVA, and Tukey's HSD post-hoc test (p < 0.05). In chloroform, MTA-Fillapex, AH-26, and Sealapex displayed moderate solubility with no significant difference in dissolution (p = 0.125); however, their dissolution was significantly lower than that of AH-Plus (p < 0.001), which was almost fully dissolved after 10 minutes. Realseal was significantly less soluble than all sealers (p < 0.001). In eucalyptoil, MTA-Fillapex showed low solubility, as all of the sealers did, but Tubli-Seal was significantly more soluble than other sealers (p < 0.001). Using ultrasonic activation resulted in a significantly higher dissolution rate in chloroform for all sealers except MTA-Fillapex after 10 min (p = 0.226). In eucalyptoil, ultrasonic activation significantly increased the dissolution rate of all sealers except MTA-Fillapex after 5 and 10 min, Sealapex at 10 min, and AH-Plus at 5 min (p > 0.05). In conclusion, MTA-Fillapex was not sufficiently dissolved in either solvent. Ultrasonic activation had limited effectiveness on MTA-Fillapex dissolution, whereas it significantly increased the efficiency of solvents in dissolving a number of endodontic sealers.

New Insight into the Dissolution of Epoxy Resin–based Sealers

“…Also, the effect of xylene was significantly increased by UA, especially at 5 minutes. Alzraikat et al (20) showed that the use of UA significantly increased the efficiency of chloroform. Eucalyptol and EndoSolv R were not influenced by UA; the same inefficacy was also reported (4,20).…”

Mineral trioxide aggregate and other bioactive endodontic cements: an updated overview – part II: other clinical applications and complications

“…Ultrasonic activation had no significant effect on improving the solubility of MTA Fillapex when used in combination with eucalyptol oil (Alzraikat et al . ). EndoSequence BC sealer and AH Plus had similar retreatability in terms of dentine penetration, amount of remaining debris following retreatment and retreatment time (Kim et al .…”

Improvement of the efficacy of endodontic solvents by ultrasonic agitation

“…Ultrasonic agitation (UA) has been recently reported to improve the efficacy of organic solvents in sealer dissolution ( Alzraikat et al, 2016 , Ferreira et al, 2017 ). Nevertheless, little attention has been given to the specific action agitation might have on gutta-percha dissolution.…”