The purpose of this study was to compare (a) forces generated during lateral compaction and (b) apical microleakage for nickel-titanium (NiTi) and stainless steel (SS) finger spreaders. Twenty-eight extracted human teeth were instrumented using a standardized rotary instrumentation technique. NiTi and SS #30 spreaders were used to obturate molar roots while the forces generated during obturation were measured on a Universal testing machine. Apical microleakage was determined using a fluid filtration method. There was no significant difference in microleakage between spreaders. NiTi spreaders produced significantly less force than SS spreaders in all specimens (p < 0.001).
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