Title

Dentin microhardness changes and smears layer removal following conventional versus alternative irrigation regimens in root canals

Authors

Shefali Talekar¹, Adiya Apon², Sarita Vikram Singh³,*, Smitha Reddy⁴, Prachi Kapade⁵, Ritika Pundir⁶ & Miral Mehta⁷

Affiliation

¹Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Bharati Vidyapeeth Dental College and Hospital, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; ²Department of Dentistry, Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kohima, Nagaland, India; ³Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Dental College and Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India; ⁴Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery Vikarabad, Telangana, India; ⁵Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, MGV’s KBH Dental College and Hospital, Nashik, Maharashtra, India; ⁶Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, NSVK Shri Venkateshwara Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India; ⁷Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Karnavati School of Dentistry, Karnavati University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Shefali Talekar - E-mail: shefalitalekar@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9029331065

Adiya Apon - E-mail: adiyaapon6@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9359184278

Sarita Vikram Singh - E-mail: sarita.sing@bharatividyapeeth.edu; Phone: +91 9765746178

Smitha Reddy - E-mail: smithalok@rediffmail.com; Phone: +91 98851 51117

Prachi Kapade - E-mail: prachi.7984@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9987031231

Ritika Pundir - E- mail: ritika.pundir@gmail.com; Phone: +91 99018 12711

Miral Mehta - E-mail: miral9829@gmail.com; Phone: +91 94277 04737

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received June 1, 2026; Revised June 30, 2026; Accepted June 30, 2026, Published June 30, 2026

Abstract

Effective irrigation during root canal treatment is essential for disinfection and smear layer removal, through its effects on dentin microstructure remain insufficiently explored. Therefore, it is of interest to compare the five irrigation protocols-NaOCl/EDTA, NaOCl/citric acid, CHX/EDTA, MTAD and QMix-on dentin microhardness and smear layer removal. All experimental groups showed significant microhardness reduction compared with control, with NaOCl/EDTA causing the greatest decrease. QMix and MTAD demonstrated superior smear layer removal with moderate effects on dentin hardness, while QMix showed consistent performance across root levels. Thus, data shows the QMix and MTAD provide a balanced alternative to conventional NaOCl/EDTA, maintaining effective smear-layer removal while reducing the negative impact on dentin microhardness.

Keywords

Root canal irrigation, dentin microhardness, smear layer, sodium hypochlorite, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), QMix, MTAD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Citation

Talekar et al. Bioinformation 22(6): 3740-3746 (2026)

Edited by

Vini Mehta  

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.