Objective: To define the reproducibility and accuracy of the Prepometer device (Hager & Werken) and to correlate the measured electrical resistance with the remaining dentin thickness. Method and Materials: In vivo standardized cavities were made on the buccal side in the cervical region of 12 intact teeth. Measurements with the Prepometer were completed before tooth extraction. After extraction, in vitro measurements of the remaining dentin thickness were performed using a µfocus-computerized tomography scanner. These in vitro scan data were compared with the in vivo measurements, and correlation coefficients calculated. The intra- and interinvestigator variability were defined, using a paired 2-tailed Student t test. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Although both the intra- and interinvestigator variability scored well, there was no clear correlation between the Prepometer measurements and the remaining dentin thickness. Because the device determines the electrical resistance of the dentin, which is related to dentin permeability, real remaining dentin thickness cannot be measured. A reasonable safety zone (3 of 12 teeth scored false negative and 1 of 12 teeth scored false positive) in terms of remaining dentin thickness was observed. Conclusions: The Prepometer, a device developed to screen dentin-surface permeability by measuring its electrical resistance, was shown to be reproducible in its use. However, electrical resistance was shown not to correlate with dentin thickness. Although the Prepometer might help to estimate the risk of pulp injury after tooth preparation, its effectiveness still remains to be proven in a randomized clinical trial. Schlagwörter: dentin permeability, dentin thickness, microcomputerized tomography, Prepometer, pulp injury, tooth preparation

Purpose: Recently, highly flowable resin fillers have been proposed for filling root canals using a single-cone approach. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that polymerization shrinkage, which is inherent to this type of filler, can break the close initial contact between the main core and the surrounding dentin even if root dentin infiltration has occurred. Materials and Methods: Twenty roots of anterior teeth were prepared chemomechanically and divided into 4 groups of 5 samples each. Groups 1 and 2: hydrophilic resin filler injected and spread, roots sectioned after setting; group 3: hydrophilic resin filler injected and spread, dental substrate dissolved after setting; group 4: hydrophobic resin sealer lentulo-spiraled and spread, roots sectioned after setting (as control). In groups 1, 2, and 3 the material was used following manufacturer's instructions. The section surfaces of groups 1 and 4, and the resin components of group 3 were processed for conventional FE-SEM. The section surfaces of group 2 were observed successively under environmental and high-vacuum conditions. Results: Microscopic examination of the resin-dentin interfaces of groups 1 and 2 showed the existence of resin-dentin interdiffusion zones (RDIZ); however, the close initial contact between the main core and the surrounding dentin was often lost. In group 3, resin tag morphology was well characterized. Identical morphological features were observed in the resin-dentin interfaces in group 4. Conclusion: Since the existence of resin tags did not exclude the existence of a gap between the main core and the adjacent RDIZ, our results confirmed the proposed hypothesis. Schlagwörter: adaptation, filling, infiltration, root dentin, seal