Ex Vivo Comparison of the Accuracy of Three Apex Locators in Working Length Determination

Thulficar Ghali Hameed1, Ghassan Ali Abbas1, Ahmed Ghanim Mahdi1

Faculty of Dentistry, University of Babylon, Hillah City, Iraq

ABSTRACT
This study aimed to compare the accuracy of working length measurement by different types of electronic
devices (electronic apex locators) and compared with actual length of the root canal (the distance from a
coronal reference point to an apical reference point 0.5 to 1.0 mm) short of the anatomical apical foramen.
Thirty-four extracted sound, fully formed, single-rooted human teeth (Premolars), which were extracted for
orthodontic purposes, were used in the current study. Within the limitations of the current study, it can be
concluded that apex locators are valuable devices for the working length determination with accuracy up
to 100%, and iPexII was the most accurate with the YC-RAF was the least accurate with statistically nonsignificant
difference.

Key words: Three apex locators, Canal treatment, Ex vivo comparison.