Comparison of measurements obtained with hand files or the Canal Leader attached to electronic apex locators: an in vitro study

Aim The aim of the present in-vitro study was to combine directly the Canal Leader handpiece (SET, Olching, Germany) with the electronic apex locators ROOT ZX (Morita, Kyoto, Japan) and JUSTY (Yoshida, Tokyo, Japan) to find o ut whether the working length values thus obtained were identical to those resulting from the combination of the same electronic devices with hand fil es. Methodology A total of 50 natural extracted teeth with single canals and ma ture apices were used, A radiograph was used as a control and the distance from the radiographic apex to the tip of the file was measured and compared with the results of the electronic length determination. Results For both electronic devices the differences amongst the distributio n of the measurements were not statistically significant under the specifie d conditions (P > 0.05), indicating that the measurements with hand files a nd with the Canal Leader were identical for the majority of the cases. Conclusions Under the conditions of this study the working length of canals obtained with electronically assisted hand files were similar to those obt ained with the electronically assisted mechanical handpiece Canal Leader.