Comparative Evaluation of The Effect of Two Chemical Root Canal Irrigants (3% Sodium Hypochlorite And 17% EDTA) And One Herbal Root Canal Irrigant (Azadirachta Indica or Neem Extract) On Dentin Microhardness: An In Vitro Study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The main objective of root canal treatment is the complete debridement of the root canal system from inflamed or necrotic pulp tissues, microrganisms. Root canal treatment aims to eliminate the infection by the concept of mechanical instrumentation, sterilization and obtaining three dimensional obturation of the root canal system. During the process of root canal therapy the irrigating solutions used can alter the physicochemical properties of the dentinal wall altering its microhardness which may affect the adhesion of the dental materials and its sealing ability. This is an invitro study conducted to determine the dentin micro hardness after using different irrigating solutions during root canal irrigation.The aim of this study is comparative evaluation of the effect of two chemical root canal irrigants and one herbal irrigant on dentin microhardness. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Forty extracted human maxillary central incisor teeth with a single root were used in this study. The crown of all the teeth were decoronated transversely at cemento enamel junction. The root canals were then instrumented up to master apical file (MAF) size 45K- file ( M-access Denstply) then stepback flaring done until reaching the size 60K-file and recapitulation was done with MAF. During instrumentation the root canals were irrigated with distilled water . The prepared 40 roots were sectioned longitudinally with a double face diamond disc. The 80 samples were then randomly divided into four groups and baseline values for microhardness for all the samples were recorded before treated with irrigating solutions. The samples treated with irrigating solutions with 20 samples each are Group I: 3% NaOCl, Group II : 17% EDTA, Group III : Neem extract, Group IV : Distilled water as a control group . 5ml of the corresponding irrigating solution was administered for a total of 5 minutes in each prepared sample. The Vickers micro - hardness tester was then used to assess the microhardness. The results were then analyzed statistically using Paired t test at 5% level of significance for paired comparison of baseline and post treatment of intra group and inter group comparisons was done using Independent Samples t test at 5% level of significance. RESULTS: All tested irrigating solutions decreased the dentinal microhardness. Samples treated with control (distilled water) demonstrated the maximum microhardness of dentin in the present study. CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this research it can be concluded that the herbal irrigant (Neem extract or Azadirachtaindica or Neem extract) did not significantly decrease the microhardness of dentin compared to the two chemical irrigants( 3% NaOCL and 17% EDTA).