An In Vitro Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Different Endodontic Sealers

Microbes are considered as the primary etiologic agents in endodontic diseases. The ways ofreducing these agents are: root canal debridement, antimicrobial irrigants and antibacterial fillingmaterials. But the complexity of the pulp canal system presents a problem for chemo mechanicalpreparation. One of the factors determining the success of endodontic treatment is the sealingmaterial with a potent bactericidal effect. The aim of the present study was to assess theantimicrobial activity of endodontic sealers of different bases – in vitro.The antimicrobial activity of three root canal sealers (Endomethasone, AH 26 and Apexit) wasevaluated against seven strains of bacteria at various time intervals using the agar diffusion test.The freshly mixed sealers were placed in prepared wells of agar plates inoculated with the testmicroorganisms. The plates were incubated for 24, 48, 72 hours and 7 and 15 days. The meanzones of inhibition were measured. All statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 13statistical software version. The analysis of variance (ANOVA), Post-hoc Bonferroni test and Paired“t” test were performed to know the effects of each variable and to reveal the statistical significance.All the data were presented in tabular and Bar diagram form.Zinc oxide eugenol based sealer (Endomethasone) exhibited the highest antibacterial activityat all time intervals followed by the Epoxy resin based sealer (AH 26) and least by the Calciumhydroxide based sealer (Apexit). Greatest antimicrobial efficacy for all the three sealers was seen at24 hour time interval which kept on diminishing with time and reached to the lowest level at 7 daytime interval.Results also showed that the zones of inhibition produced by each sealer decreased withtime, and was the least after the seven days of incubation. The differences among all the groupswere significant statistically (p<0.001) at all the four time intervals under study.Zinc oxide eugenol based root canal sealer produced largest inhibitory zones followed indecreasing order by Epoxy resin based sealer and least by Calcium hydroxide based root canalsealer.