A Micro-Computed Tomographic Assessment of the Influence of Operator's Experience on the Quality of WaveOne Instrumentation.

INTRODUCTION:Micro-computed tomographic scanning was used to evaluate the influence of operator's experience on the time and quality of instrumentation of the mesial root canals of mandibular molars using WaveOne Primary files (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland). METHODS:Thirty mandibular molars with 2 separate mesial canals were submitted to preoperative micro-CT scans. Teeth were randomly allocated to 3 groups: and experienced operator group and inexperienced groups before and after training with WaveOne files. Second scans were obtained after instrumentation. The volume of the untreated canal, the volume of dentin removed after preparation; the amount of the uninstrumented area; and transportation to the coronal, middle, and apical thirds of canals were measured. The preparation time was also recorded. RESULTS:Instrumentation of canals increased their volume and surface area in all groups. No significant differences between experienced and inexperienced (with and without training) groups in the apical, middle, and coronal sections were detected although coronal transportation was slightly larger in both inexperienced groups than in the experienced group. The inexperienced operator without training used significantly more time for instrumentation than the experienced operator (P < .05); after training for 1 month, the instrumentation time by the same inexperienced operator was reduced (P < .05) to close to the time of the experienced operator (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS:The WaveOne instrumentation technique required a short learning curve for the inexperienced user in order to master this technology.