OR03 - One-Year Success Rate of the GentleWave Irrigation Procedure Compared to Conventional Needle Irrigation Procedure for Non-Surgical Root Canal Treatment

Introduction: GentleWave is an advanced irrigation device approved by the FDA for endodontic treatment in 2015. It forms a negative pressure seal within the root canal space and rinses the canal spaces using Multisonic Ultracleaning® technology. Early work reported high success rates for GentleWave in necrotic cases with periapical radiolucencies. However, no study has compared GentleWave to conventional needle irrigation. We sought to evaluate the effect of GentleWave irrigation versus conventional needle irrigation on outcomes of non-surgical root canal therapy (NSRCT).

Methods: Primary outcome measures included healing using periapical indices (PAI) and cone beam computed tomography indices. Healing between the two groups were analyzed using X² or Fisher’s exact tests, depending on the variable.

Results: Preliminary results of 19 patients (n=10 GentleWave, n=9 Conventional,) demonstrate that all patients showed a significant improvement in their PAI scores at 12 months. However, no difference in PAI scores were noted between the two groups (p=0.24). One patient reported persistent percussion sensitivity at follow up in the GentleWave group with no other patients reporting signs/symptoms of persistent disease. Future studies will include recruiting n=25/group and, if outcomes differ, perform logistic regression models to determine risk factors for failure such as tooth type, pulpal and periapical diagnoses, sealer extrusion, sex and age. Collectively, our preliminary results suggest that there is no difference in the 12 month success between GentleWave and needle irrigation methodologies in NSRCT cases.