The Effect of Sodium Hypochlorite on Nickel Titanium Rotary Instruments and its Effect on Resistance to Fracture

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of immersion in sodium hypochlorite on nickel titanium rotary files and determine whether resistance to fracture was influenced by the immersion time. 70 ISO size 25 0.04 taper nickel titanium K3 and Profile rotary instruments were immersed in 5.25% sodium hypochlorite for 1, 5, 15, 30, 60, and 120 minutes (n=5 each). Resistance to fracture was tested by rotating files at a 30 degree angle at 350 rpm in a universal testing machine. Time to fracture was recorded and analyzed by a two-way ANOVA. Within both file types, there was a decreased time to fracture with increased immersion time in sodium hypochlorite. K3 files required an average of 327 rotations to fracture, while Profiles required 420 rotations to fracture. Profiles required significantly more rotations to failure than K3 files