This study aimed to analyze the main features of the 25 most-cited articles in minimally invasive access cavities.

An electronic search was conducted on the Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science ‘All Databases’ to identify the most-cited articles related to this topic. Citation counts were cross-matched with data from Elsevier's Scopus and Google Scholar. Information about authors, contributing institutions and countries, year and journal of publication, study design and topic, access cavity, and keywords were analyzed.

The top 25 most-cited articles received a total of 572 (Web of Science), 1,160 (Google Scholar) and 631 (Scopus) citations. It was observed a positive significant association between the number of citations and age of publication (r = 0.6907, p < 0.0001); however, there was no significant association regarding citation density and age of publication (r = −0.2631, p = 0.2038). The Journal of Endodontics made the highest contribution (n = 15, 60%). The United States had the largest number of publications (n = 7) followed by Brazil (n = 4), with the most contributions from the University of Tennessee and Grande Rio University (n = 3), respectively. The highest number of most-cited articles were ex vivo studies (n = 16), and ‘fracture resistance’ was the major topic studied (n = 10).

This study revealed a growing interest for researchers in the field of minimally invasive access cavities. Future trends are focused on the expansion of collaborative networks and the conduction of laboratory studies on under-investigated parameters.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of traditional and contracted endodontic cavity (TEC and CEC) preparation with the use of Reciproc Blue (RPC B) and One Curve (OC) single-file systems on the amount of apical debris extrusion in mandibular first molar root canals.

Eighty extracted mandibular first molar teeth were randomly assigned to 4 groups (n = 20) according to the endodontic access cavity shape and the single file system used for root canal preparation (reciprocating motion with the RCP B and rotary motion with the OC): TEC-RPC B, TEC-OC, CEC-RPC B, and CEC-OC. The apically extruded debris during preparation was collected in Eppendorf tubes. The amount of extruded debris was quantified by subtracting the weight of the empty tubes from the weight of the Eppendorf tubes containing the debris. Data were analyzed using 1-way analysis of variance with the Tukey post hoc test. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

The CEC-RPC B group showed more apical debris extrusion than the TEC-OC and CEC-OC groups (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the amount of apical debris extrusion among the TEC-OC, CEC-OC, and TEC-RPC B groups.

RPC B caused more apical debris extrusion in the CEC groups than did the OC single-file system. Therefore, it is suggested that the RPC B file should be used carefully in teeth with a CEC.

This study evaluated the influence of chlorhexidine (CHX) on the microtensile bonds strength (µTBS) of resin core with two adhesive systems to dentin in endodontic cavities.

Flat dentinal surfaces in 40 molar endodontic cavities were treated with self-etch adhesive system, Contax (DMG) and total-etch adhesive system, Adper Single Bond 2 (3M ESPE) after the following surface treatments: (1) Priming only (Contax), (2) CHX for 15 sec + rinsing + priming (Contax), (3) Etching with priming (Adper Single Bond 2), (4) Etching + CHX for 15 sec + rinsing + priming (Adper Single Bond 2). Resin composite build-ups were made with LuxaCore (DMG) using a bulk method and polymerized for 40 sec. For each condition, half of specimens were submitted to µTBS after 24 hr storage and half of them were submitted to thermocycling of 10,000 cycles between 5℃ and 55℃ before testing. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and independent t-test at a significance level of 95%.

CHX pre-treatment did not affect the bond strength of specimens tested at the immediate testing period, regardless of dentin surface treatments. However, after 10,000 thermocycling, all groups showed reduced bond strength. The amount of reduction was greater in groups without CHX treatments than groups with CHX treatment. These characteristics were the same in both self-etch adhesive system and total-etch adhesive system.

2% CHX application for 15 sec proved to alleviate the decrease of bond strength of dentin bonding systems. No significant difference was shown in µTBS between total-etching system and self-etching system.