Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the preservation of canal curvature, apical transportation and centering ability of 2 different reciprocating NiTi rotary files with and without prior use of glide path rotary files using Cone Beam Computed Tomography.
Methods: Forty extracted human mandibular first molar teeth were collected for this study. Teeth were divided into 4 groups (n=10): Reciproc blue group, Reciproc blue with glide path group, M3-L platinum group and M3-L platinum with glide path group. All teeth were scanned before and after preparation. Data were analyzed using for non-parametric data, Kruskal-Wallis test and Friedman's test. For parametric data, repeated measures ANOVA test was used. For qualitative data, Fisher's Exact test was used. The significance level was set at (p<0.05).
Results: Regarding overall canal curvature, there is a statistically significant difference between Reciproc blue groups and M3-L platinum groups. Regarding overall canal transportation, there was no statistically significant difference between different groups. Regarding transportation direction, there was no statistically significant difference between different groups at 3 and 6 mm. While at 9 mm, there was a statistically significant difference between transportation directions in M3-L platinum with glide path group, with most of samples showed distal transportation. Regarding overall centering ability, there was a statistically significant difference between different groups.
Conclusion: From the findings of our present study, it was found that glide path files have an important performance during root canal preparation.