Apical leakage of three resin-based endodontic sealers after 810-nm-diode laser irradiation

Objective: To evaluate the influence of 810-nm-diode laser irradiation, applied before root canal filling, on apical sealing ability of three different resin-based sealers (AH Plus, EndoRez, and RealSeal). Background: Lasers have been widely used in endodontics. The dentin wall changes caused by laser irradiation could improve the sealing ability of endodontic cements. Methods: Sixty single-rooted human teeth were divided into six groups, according to the endodontic sealer used and previous 810-nm-diode laser irradiation. The protocol for laser irradiation was 2.5W in a continuous wave, in scanning mode, with four irradiations per tooth. After sample preparation, they were analyzed according to apical leakage with silver nitrate impregnation. Results: The RealSeal sealer achieved minimum leakage rates (1.24mm), with significant differences at the 1% level (Tukey's test, p<0.01) from AH Plus (1.84mm) in nonirradiated groups. When the laser was used, there were also significant differences at the 5% level (p<0.05) between irradiated groups (1.31 and 1.78mm, respectively). Conclusion: The 810-nm-diode laser irradiation did not promote significant differences in apical leakage.