Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of the taper and apical diameter of nickel–titanium (NiTi) endodontic rotary files on the dynamic cyclic fatigue resistance. A total of 50 unused conventional NiTi wire alloy endodontic rotary instruments were used in this study. All NiTi endodontic rotary files were submitted to a custom-made dynamic cyclic fatigue device until fracture occurred. The time to failure, the number of cycles to failure, the number of pecking movements, and the length of the fractured file tip were analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. In addition, the Weibull characteristic strength and Weibull modulus were also calculated. The paired t-test revealed statistically significant differences between the time to failure, number of cycles to failure, and number of cycles of in-and-out movement of both the apical diameter (p ˂ 0.001) and the taper (p ˂ 0.001) of NiTi endodontic rotary files; however, the results did not show statistically significant differences between the mean length of the fractured files regarding the apical diameter (p = 0.344) and taper study groups (p = 0.344). Increased apical diameter and taper of NiTi endodontic rotary files decreased their dynamic resistance to cyclic fatigue.
Highlights
The introduction of nickel–titanium (NiTi) alloy in endodontic rotary instruments had a great impact on endodontics due to their combination of speed, quality, accuracy, and risk reduction [1]
The influence of the taper and apical diameter of NiTi endodontic rotary files on the cyclic fatigue resistance has never been reported, research has highlighted that the fracture incidence of NiTi endodontic rotary files increased in curved root canal systems, possibly related to the apical diameter [19] and taper of the NiTi endodontic rotary files [20], mainly at the point of the maximum curvature
The mean and standard deviation (SD) values for time to failure regarding the apical diameter and taper are displayed in Table 1 and Figure 5A,B
Summary
The introduction of nickel–titanium (NiTi) alloy in endodontic rotary instruments had a great impact on endodontics due to their combination of speed, quality, accuracy, and risk reduction [1]. The influence of the taper and apical diameter of NiTi endodontic rotary files on the cyclic fatigue resistance has never been reported, research has highlighted that the fracture incidence of NiTi endodontic rotary files increased in curved root canal systems, possibly related to the apical diameter [19] and taper of the NiTi endodontic rotary files [20], mainly at the point of the maximum curvature. This is because large file tapers accumulate a greater amount of internal stress during stress-compression cycles when flexed to accommodate the curvature of the root canal system [21]. An increase in the diameter of the NiTi endodontic rotary files can contribute to increasing the resistance to torsional fracture [5]
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