Cleaning efficacy of various rotary endodontic file systems in primary dentition

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the cleaning efficacy of three different rotary instrumentation systems in root canal preparation of primary anterior teeth. Materials and Methods: Thirty primary anterior teeth were freshly extracted and divided into three groups of ten teeth each. In Group I, root canals were instrumented with ProTaper, Group II with K3, and Group III with Hero 642 rotary file systems. After canal preparation, the teeth were sectioned longitudinally and visualized under standard error of the mean at coronal, middle, and apical thirds. Debris and smear layer removal efficacy was evaluated, and the data obtained were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test and Mann-Whitney U-test. Results: Statistically significant difference was noted in debris and smear layer scores at apical thirds (P < 0.05) between three groups with the highest efficacy for ProTaper followed by K3 and Hero 642 rotary systems. At coronal and middle thirds, K3 performed better than ProTaper file system. Conclusion: All the three groups showed decreased smear layer removal at the apical third. However, ProTaper and K3 rotary files showed significantly better cleaning efficacy at the apical third when compared to Hero 642 rotary files.