Comparing Traditional and Sonic Irrigation: Which is More Effective Against Bacteria in Root Canals?

This study aims to compare the efficacy of traditional irrigation and sonic activation techniques in disinfecting root canals from bacteria. The study sample consisted of 20 necrotic pulp maxillary incisors exposed to the oral environment. The samples were randomly divided into two groups: Group 1 (n=10): Traditional irrigation without activation, and Group 2 (n=10): Sonic activation technique. Microbial swabs were taken using paper points before and after irrigation. These were cultured on bacterial study plates, and the bacterial colony count (CFU) was recorded for both aerobic and anaerobic cultures in each group. The results were statistically analyzed. The study revealed statistically no significant differences in bacterial colony count reductions after irrigation for aerobic and anaerobic cultures (p-value > 0.05) between groups. The mean logarithmic bacterial colony count reduction was similer among sonic activation and traditional irrigation groups. This study demonstrates that the sonic activation technique is equally to traditional irrigation in eliminating bacteria from root canals.