The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consistency of two electronic apex locators in vitro model.

Materials consisted of fifty two extracted premolars and two electronic apex locators; Root ZX (J. Morita, Osaka, Japan) and E-Magic Finder Deluxe (S-Denti, Cheonan, Korea). After access preparation, the teeth were embedded in a saline-mixed alginate model. Canal lengths of each tooth were measured at "0.5" and "Apex" mark of the apex locators, respectively so that each tooth had two measurements from 0.5 and Apex points. The file was fixed at final measurement using a glass ionomer cement. The apical 4 mm from the apex was exposed to measure the distance from the file tip to the major apical foramen of each tooth. Average distances and standard deviations were used to evaluate the consistency.

Results showed that all measurements of both Root ZX and E-Magic Finder located the major foramen the range of ± 0.5 mm level. Both apex locators showed better consistency at Apex mark than at 0.5 mark. The average distance of file tip-major foramen was - 0.18 mm at 0.5 mark and - 0.07 mm at Apex mark in Root ZX, - 0.25 mm at 0.5 mark and - 0.02 mm at Apex mark in E-Magic Finder. Standard deviation was 0.21 at 0.5 mark and 0.12 at Apex mark in Root ZX, 0.12 at 0.5 mark and 0.09 at Apex mark in E-Magic Finder.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Variations in the morphology of apical constriction affecting electronic readings: An in vitro investigation using 3D‐printed tooth models
  Juhee Nam, Lucila Piasecki, Doun Kwak, Jung Hwa Hong, Il‐Young Jung, Sung‐Ho Park, Sin‐Yeon Cho
  Australian Endodontic Journal.2023; 49(S1): 245.     CrossRef
• In vivo evaluation of accuracy and consistency of two electronic apex locators
  Chien-Yun Pi, Euiseong Kim, Il-Young Jung, Seung-Jong Lee
  Journal of Korean Academy of Conservative Dentistry.2010; 35(6): 453.     CrossRef