It has been documented that periodontopathic bacteria are also implicated in endodontic infections. 16S rDNA gene-directed PCR was to examine the prevalence of periodontopathic bacteria including Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (Aa), Prevotella intermedia (Pi), Prevotella nigrescens (Pn), Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), Porphyromonas endodontalis (Pe), and Treponema denticola (Td) in the root canals of 36 endodontically infected teeth having apical lesions with or without clinical symptoms like pain, swelling, and fistula.

In 36 infected root canals, most frequently detected bacterial species was Pg (61.1%), followed by Td (52.8%) and Pe (38.9%).

High prevalence of BPB in the symptomatic teeth but low in the asymptomatic teeth suggests that BPB may play an important role in the pathogenesis of periapical lesions.

Ormocer has organic-inorganic compound polymers. One of advantages of ormocer is reduced polymerization shrinkage. The purpose of this study was to compare the amount of contraction shrinkage of composite resins and ormocers. Additionally, the time of each material when there is no further change of contraction shrinkage was analysed.

Four brands of composite resins (P-60, Surefil, Z-250 and Denfil) and two brands of ormocers (Definite and Admira) were used. 20 seconds, 40 seconds and 60 seconds of curing times were given. Contraction shrinkage of them were measured using a linometer for 80 seconds.

The effect of material and curing time to contraction shrinkage at the time of 80 seconds was analysed by two-way ANOVA. The effect of time to contraction shrinkage was analysed by one-way ANOVA, and the time when there was no further change of the contraction shrinkage was analysed. The results are as follows :

P-60, Definite, Z-250 and Denfil had no further change of contraction shrinkage from the time of 20 seconds, and Surefil and Admira had no further change of contraction shrinkage from the time of 10 seconds.

This study was performed to evaluate the actual temperature rise on the surface of Buchanan plugger using thermocouple. The heat carrier system 'System B Heatsource' (Model 1005, Analytic Technologies, Redmond, WA, USA) and the Buchanan pluggers of F, FM, M and ML sizes are used for this study. The temperature was set to 200℃ on digital display and the power level on it was set to 10. Five thermocouples were placed in direct contact with the surface of each size of Buchanan's pluggers at 1 mm increments from the tip to the 4 mm length of shank. The heat control spring was touched for 5 seconds, and the temperature rise on the surface of the pluggers were measured at 1 sec intervals for more than 5 seconds with an accuracy of 0.01 using Data Logger. The data were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA.

The results were as follows.

The position at which the temperature peaked was approximately at 1~2 mm far from the tip of Buchanan plugger (p<0.01).

This results suggest that the actual temperature on the surface of the pluggers does not correlate well with the temperature set on digital display. Heat concentrates around the tip. The larger plugger reveals lower temperature rise relatively.

This study was conducted to evaluate the temperature rise on the root surface while the root canal is being obturated using continuous wave of condensation technique. Maxillary central incisor was prepared for repeated canal obturation. Ten thermocouples (Omega Engineering Inc., Stanford, USA) were placed at 1 mm increment from the anatomical root apex. The real temperature of Buchanan plugger was recorded before insertion into the root canal. The root canal was obturated with continuous wave of condensation technique as described by Buchanan and the root surface temperature was recorded during obturation at 150℃, 200℃, 250℃ and 300℃ temperature settings of System B HeatSource (Model 1005, Analytic technologies, Redmond, WA, USA). After completion of the temperature recording, the dentinal-cementum thickness at each sites was measured. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Scheffe' s test and linear regression test.

The results were as follows.

When the temperature was set at 150℃, 200℃, 250℃ and 300℃ on the digital display of System B HeatSource, the real temperature of the plugger at the 1mm point from the tip revealed 130.82±2.96℃, 158.00±5.26℃, 215.92±6.91℃ and 249.88±3.65℃ respectively.

These results suggest that it be relatively kind to the supporting tissues of the root that the root canal is obturated using continuous wave of condensation technique at 150℃, 200℃, 250℃ and 300℃ temperature settings on digital temperature display of System B HeatSource.

The purpose of present study was to evaluate the polymerization shrinkage stress and amount of linear shrinkage of composites and compomers for posterior restoration.

For this purpose, linear polymerization shrinkage and polymerization stress were measured.

For linear polymerization shrinklage and polymerization stress measurement, custom made Linometer (R&B, Daejon, Korea) and Stress measuring machine was used (R&B, Daejon, Korea). Compositers and compomers were evaluated; Dyract AP (Dentsply Detrey, Gumbh. German) Z100 (3M Dental Products, St. Paul, USA) Surefil (Dentsply Caulk, Milford, USA) Pyramid(Bisco, Schaumburg, USA) Synergy Compact (Coltene, Altstatten, Switzerland), Heliomolar (Vivadent/Ivoclar, Liechtenstein), and Compoglass (Vivadent Ivoclar/Liechtenstein) were used. 15 measurements were made for each material. Linear polymerization shrinkage or polymerization stress for each material was compared with one way ANOVA with Tukey at 95% levels of confidence.

For linear shrinkage; Heliomolar, Surefil<Synergy Compact, Z100<Dyract AP<Pyramid, Compoglass F (p<0.05)

For Shrinkage stress; Heliomolar<Z100, Pyramid<Synergy Compact, Compoglass F<Dyract AP<Heliomolar HB, Surefil (p<0.05)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the light emitting diode(LED) units for composite curing. To compare its effectiveness with conventional quartz tungsten halogen (QTH) light curing unit, the microhardness of 2mm composite, Z250, which had been light cured by the LEDs (Ultralume LED2, FreeLight, Developing product D1) or QTH (XL 3000) were compared on the upper and lower surface. One way ANOVA with Tukey and Paired t-test was used at 95% levels of confidence. In addition, the amount of linear polymerization shrinkage was compared between composites which were light cured by QTH or LEDs using a custom-made linometer in 10s and 60s of light curing, and the amount of linear polymerization shrinkage was compared by one way ANOVA with Tukey.

The amount of polymerization shrinkage at 10s was

XL3000 > Ultralume 2, 40, 60> FreeLight, D1 (P<0.05)

The amount of polymerization shrinkage at 60s was

XL3000 > Ultralume 2, 60> Ultralume 2,40> FreeLight, D1 (P<0.05)

The microhardness on the upper and lower surface was as follows;

It was concluded that the LEDs produced lower polymerization shrinkage in 10s and 60s compared with QTH unit. In addition, the microhardness of samples which had been cured with LEDs was lower on the lower surfaces than the upper surfaces whereas there was no difference in QTH cured samples.