Open Access, Peer-reviewed
eISSN 2234-7666
    J Korean Acad Conserv Dent. 2008 Jan;33(1):20-27. Korean.
    Published online Jan 31, 2008.
    https://doi.org/10.5395/JKACD.2008.33.1.020
    Copyright © 2008 The Korean Academy of Conservative Dentistry
    Original Article

    In vitro evaluation of the consistency of two electronic apex locators

    Gyu-Young Hwang, Byoung-Duck Roh, Eui-Sung Kim and Seung-Jong Lee
      • Department of Conservative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Korea.
    • Corresponding Author: Seung-Jong Lee. Department of Conservative Dentistry, Yonsei University, School of Dentistry, 134 Shinchon-Dong, Sudaemun-Ku, Seoul, 120-752, Korea. Tel: 82-2-2228-8700, Fax: 82-2-313-7575, Email: sjlee@yuhs.ac
    Received October 26, 2007; Revised December 01, 2007; Accepted December 26, 2007.

    This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

    Abstract

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consistency of two electronic apex locators in vitro model.

    Materials consisted of fifty two extracted premolars and two electronic apex locators; Root ZX (J. Morita, Osaka, Japan) and E-Magic Finder Deluxe (S-Denti, Cheonan, Korea). After access preparation, the teeth were embedded in a saline-mixed alginate model. Canal lengths of each tooth were measured at "0.5" and "Apex" mark of the apex locators, respectively so that each tooth had two measurements from 0.5 and Apex points. The file was fixed at final measurement using a glass ionomer cement. The apical 4 mm from the apex was exposed to measure the distance from the file tip to the major apical foramen of each tooth. Average distances and standard deviations were used to evaluate the consistency.

    Results showed that all measurements of both Root ZX and E-Magic Finder located the major foramen the range of ± 0.5 mm level. Both apex locators showed better consistency at Apex mark than at 0.5 mark. The average distance of file tip-major foramen was - 0.18 mm at 0.5 mark and - 0.07 mm at Apex mark in Root ZX, - 0.25 mm at 0.5 mark and - 0.02 mm at Apex mark in E-Magic Finder. Standard deviation was 0.21 at 0.5 mark and 0.12 at Apex mark in Root ZX, 0.12 at 0.5 mark and 0.09 at Apex mark in E-Magic Finder.

    Keywords
    Alginate model; apical constriction; consistency; electronic apex locator; major foramen

    Figures

    Figure 1
    Root ZX.

    Figure 2
    E-Magic Finder.

    Figure 3
    Length measurements with digital caliper.

    Figure 4
    Distance from file tip to major foramen with EasyDent Viewer.

    Figure 5
    Box plots: Quartile of file tip-major foramen distance at 0.5 mark and Apex mark.

    Tables

    Table 1
    Distance of file tip-major foramen at 0.5 mark and Apex mark (mm)

    Table 2
    Difference of the length at 0.5 mark and Apex mark

    Table 3
    Range of Apex band

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    MeSH Terms
    Acrylic Resins
    Alginates
    Bicuspid
    Electronics
    Electrons
    Glass Ionomer Cements
    Glucuronic Acid
    Hexuronic Acids
    Silicon Dioxide
    Tooth
    Tooth Apex
    Metrics
    Share
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    Tables
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