Introduction: The goal of this research was to compare the adhesion ability of an epoxy resin-based and two bioceramic sealers, used with gutta percha in the single cone (SC) versus the lateral compaction (LC) obturation techniques.
Materials and Methods: Ninety sound, mature, single-canaled human mandibular premolars were employed. Canals were cleaned and shaped, then randomly divided into two groups (n= 45), according to the obturation technique used. Each group was further subdivided into three subgroups (n=15), depending on the sealer type (AH-Plus, Endoseal MTA, and TotalFill BC). To get coronal and apical sections, the roots were sectioned horizontally. For evaluation of the gap percentage and measurement of the bond strength, the SEM and the push-out test were used respectively. The data was statistically examined at the 0.05 significance level.
Results: The LC obturation technique showed higher statistically significant push-out bond strength values than the SC technique with all sealers, except Endoseal MTA that showed higher values in the SC technique. All sealers demonstrated a significantly stronger push-out bond strength apically than coronally. At the sealer/dentin interface, there were almost no significant differences in gap% values between both techniques. However, at the sealer/gutta percha interface the LC technique showed more significantly gap% values than the SC technique.
Conclusions: AH-Plus and TotalFill BC revealed better adhesion to dentine in the LC compared to the SC obturation technique. Endoseal MTA showed better adhesion to dentine in the SC technique. No correlation existed between gap presence, and the bond strength of the tested sealers.