Comparison of different laser-activated irrigation modalities in terms of calcium hydroxide removal and apical extrusion in curved root canals

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the photon-induced photoacoustic streaming (PIPS) and the shock wave-enhanced emission photoacoustic streaming (SWEEPS) in terms of calcium hydroxide (CH) removal and apical extrusion in curved root canals.
Methods: The mesiobuccal roots of 20 maxillary molars were split longitudinally. CH was placed into the artificial grooves prepared in the apical third, and the root halves were reassembled. The samples were randomly divided into two groups for irrigation protocol (n = 10): PIPS (Group 1) and SWEEPS (Group 2). After irrigation activation protocols using EDTA (2 mL, 17%) for 3 × 20 s, the tooth halves were separated, and the remaining CH was measured as pixels under a stereomicroscope at 10× magnification. Apical extrusion was calculated using a cube-shaped flower arrangement foam by subtracting the initial weights from the final weights (mg). The data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. The level of significance was taken as p< 0.05.
Results: There was no significant difference between SWEEPS and PIPS in terms of residual CH values (p> 0.05). CH was completely removed in 4 samples in the PIPS group and only 1 sample in the SWEEPS group. Both groups exhibited similar apical extrusion.
Conclusion: The SWEEPS modality performed similar efficacy as the PIPS modality in terms of CH removal and apical extrusion during irrigation activation procedures.