Comparative Analysis of Protaper and Waveone Systems to Reduce Enterococcus Faecalis from Root Canal System in Primary Molars--An in Vitro Study.

Objective: To assess, in vitro, the ability of the ProTaper(™) and WaveOne(™) systems to reduce Enterococcus faecalis contamination in primary molars.

Study Design: Sixty roots of primary molars were contaminated with E. faecalis. Roots were randomly allocated to one of four groups (n=20): ProTaper(™), WaveOne(™), control A, or control B. The files used were S1 and S2/F1 and F2 (ProTaper(™) system) and 25.08 (WaveOne(™) system). In control group A, the root canal was left uninstrumented, whereas in control group B, the root canal was irrigated with NaCl 0.9%. E. faecalis was sampled from the root canal system before and after instrumentation and the Wilcoxon test and Mann-Whitney U were used.

Results: There were no differences in E. faecalis counts between pre-instrumentation counts in the ProTaper™ and WaveOne(™) (p>0.05). The ProTaper(™) system led to an 89.36% reduction in E. faecalis burden, versus 78.10% with the WaveOne(™) system (p>0.05). Instrumentation time was shorter with WaveOne(™) (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: The ProTaper(™) and WaveOne™ systems were equally effective in reducing Enterococcus faecalis in primary molars. The WaveOne(™) system was associated with shorter instrumentation time.