The effect of standard or serial preparation on single cone obturations

Summary. This leakage study, in vitro , used methylene blue dye as a marker to detect the extent of apical fluid penetration after buccal roots from maxillary first bicuspids were instrumented either by the standard technique or serially, and obturated with laterally condensed gutta‐percha and sealer, a single gutta‐percha master cone and sealer, or sealer alone. The linear extent of dye penetration was measured after the roots were split longitudinally. In this study the laterally condensed gutta‐percha and sealer technique resulted in the least apical penetration of dye. The single gutta‐percha cone and sealer technique groups had less dye penetration than the groups where obturation was with sealer alone. The use of the standard or serial technique of preparing canals resulted in no significant difference in the quality of obturation using a single gutta‐percha cone with sealer or using sealer alone.