(PR062) Antibacterial Efficacy of Bioceramic Sealers on Enterococcus Faecalis

Objective: This in vitro study aimed to evaluate and compare the antibacterial efficacy of eight endodontic sealers: AH Plus Jet^®, AH Plus^® Bioceramic Sealer, EndoSequence^® BC Sealer™, EndoSequence^® BC Sealer^™ HiFlow^™, NeoSealer^™ Flo, MTApex^™, BioRoot^™ Flow, and ZenSeal^™. Manufacturers of bioceramic sealers boast superior performance in bioactivity and antibacterial properties over commonly utilized resin-based sealers. This study compared the antibacterial efficacy of bioceramic sealers against a pervasive bacterium associated with failed primary nonsurgical root canal treatment, Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis).

Methods: E. faecalis OG1RF strain inoculated in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth at a concentration of 1x10⁶ CFU/mL was exposed to freshly placed sealer and incubated at 37°C overnight. 6 biologic replicates, each with 2-3 technical replicates, were completed per sealer. Suspensions were serially diluted, drip-plated on BHI agar, incubated at 37°C overnight, and bacterial growth as colony forming units (CFUs) was determined.

Results: Global differences in CFUs were assessed via an analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by pairwise comparisons (Tukey’s analysis) between groups with significance set at p<0.05. ANOVA revealed p=0.227, thus no global differences between sealer efficacy was noted. Tukey’s analysis further demonstrated no significant difference in a pairwise comparison of sealer types. All sealers effectively killed E. faecalis in BHI suspension.

Conclusion: Under the parameters of this in vitro study, there was not a statistically significant difference in bactericidal efficacy between the seven bioceramic sealers nor that of the resin sealer. All tested sealers were effective in killing E. faecalisat 24 hours contact time.