Background: The aim of this study was to compare the apical and coronal extrusions by using two reciprocating and two rotary instrumentation systems.
Methods: Eighty extracted human single-rooted anterior teeth were randomly assigned to four groups. Four different root canal instrumentation systems were used according to the manufacturers instructions, including two reciprocating single-file systems, Reciproc and WaveOne, and two full-sequence rotary BLX and ProTaper instruments. Debris collected from the coronal by the instruments and apical extrusions were quantified respectively. After drying the collections, the mean weight of debris collected from apical and coronal extrusions was assessed using an electronic balance and analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann-Whitney U tests.
Results: Statistically significant differences in the apical extrusion were observed among the four groups. Reciproc and WaveOne instruments produced significantly less debris than BLX and ProTaper instruments (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: All of the systems produced apical extrusion of debris. However, reciprocating single-file systems produced less apical extrusion than full-sequence rotary systems. No relationship was observed between apical and coronal extrusions.