Solubility Changes After Setting of Bioceramic Root Canal Sealers

Objectives: To evaluate and compare the changes in solubility of different bioceramic sealers in distilled water and phosphate-buffered saline, along with analysis of any differences in mass.
Methods: Samples (n=12/sealer/gp) (Endosequence BC sealer, Endosequence BC sealer hi-flow, and BioRoot Flow) were fabricated and stored to set (37°C, 7d), weighed on a precision balance, placed in individual wells containing 2.5 mL of distilled water (DW), stored to set (37°C, 24hr), placed in new individual wells, dried (37°C, 24hr), and then measured for final mass. The same protocol was repeated with Dulbecco’s phosphate-buffered saline (D-PBS) as the solvent. The percentage of solubility was calculated as percent change ((FM-IM)/IM*100 (IM=initial mass, FM=final mass)) along with differences in mass and percent difference in mass, statistics analyzed with two-way ANOVA with HS post-hoc test, p<0.05. For each measurement, three separate measurements were taken and averaged.
Results: Between DW and D-PBS samples among all bioceramic sealers, difference in mass, percent difference in mass, and solubility were significantly higher in the D-PBS samples than DW samples (p<0.001). Within the D-PBS samples, BioRoot Flow had a significantly larger mass difference than Endosequence BC sealer (p<0.001) and Endosequence BC hi-flow (p<0.001), significantly larger percent difference in mass than Endosequence BC sealer (p<0.001) and Endosequence BC hi-flow (p<0.001), and significantly higher solubility than Endosequence BC sealer (p<0.001) and Endosequence BC hi-flow (p<0.001). Endosequence BC sealer had a significantly larger percent difference in mass and higher solubility than Endosequence BC hi-flow samples (p=0.002).
Conclusions: Considering the limitations of the present in vitro study, D-PBS led to higher solubility and larger difference in mass in the bioceramic sealers. In D-PBS, BioRoot Flow, in comparison to the other bioceramic sealers, showed more solubility and changes in mass than the other sealers.