A number of dentists with an endodontic interest recently attended a presentation given by Ghassan Yared. This meeting was held at The Hilton Doubletree Hotel in London and attended by approximately 50 eager participants.
Ghassan Yared was the instigator in the development of the new Reciproc File. This whole new generation of reciprocating files came about when investigators like Ghassan were looking for a file with less fracture potential
than the established rotaries. All the previous research and development had been to do with modifying existing rotary files, notably based on the alloy of nickel and titanium, which allowed greater flexibility but didn’t necessarily add to the strength and fracture resistance properties. It would seem the main development features of reciprocating files really involved developing a motor that could reciprocate a file and this aspect of the development tends to be clothed in secrecy. Ghassan simply put a Protaper finishing file in a reciprocating motor and prepared canals, and the rest is history. This concept also introduced the ‘single file’ preparation system. Obviously there was a huge amount of research and development involved in this aspect of the file development. Another interesting feature is that two reciprocating files were developed in parallel, that is; Wave One and Reciproc. Again this is clothed in
secrecy, although bizarrely all the different component companies are now owned by the same mother company, Dentsply.
My own experience for the last year has been with Reciproc Files, and this is the second time I have heard Ghassan present on the subject, and it has convinced me that reciprocating files are here to stay. Inevitably there are two camps, Wave One and Reciproc and Reciproc is my favoured file as it removes gutta percha so efficiently. Let’s face it most of us who run endodontic practices spend half our life removing gutta percha!
Ghassan’s presentation is very much based on radiographs of his own clinical cases and with some speakers this can become a bit tedious. However in Ghassan’s presentation this isn’t the case. He demonstrates how effective and efficient the Reciproc File is in negotiating fine and curved canals, and of course included in his presentation were numerous references to the relevant research papers. When I first heard Ghassan talking about not having to carry out glide-path preparation, I was rather aghast and felt that would never suit me, having spent most of my long practising life glide-pathing canals. Like all new techniques one tends to ‘cherry pick’ and although I am a committed Reciproc user, I still glide path many of my fine canals.
The time saved in canal preparation when using Reciproc filing is considerable and on a personal note this time is used to enhance and improve the canal chemical irrigation. There is currently considerable research and development in the irrigation field and I think it this aspect of root canal preparation that we can now concentrate on. However one of the major surprises of the day was Ghassan’s statement that he doesn’t use EDTA solution as an irrigant.
During the question time I challenged him on this and he was quite clear that he didn’t consider removal of the smear layer essential, hence he didn’t use EDTA. I have to say I don’t agree with his opinion and I feel slightly embarrassed in disagreeing with one of the masters. I believe there is enough
evidence to support the use of EDTA.
The event was truly splendid and Ghassan’s presentation was enlightening.