Heat Transfer to the External Root Surface During Use of Wireless Heated Pluggers: An In Vitro Study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-3-2026

Publication Title

SVOA Dentistry

Abstract

Introduction: Heat generated during thermoplastic obturation may be transferred to surrounding periodontal tissues. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the thermal behavior of wireless heated plugger systems and to determine the time required to produce a 10 °C increase in external root surface temperature, as well as the influence of dentin thickness on heat transfer. Methods: Five wireless heated plugger systems were evaluated for plugger tip temperature profiles during 25 seconds of continuous activation. Forty extracted human teeth were instrumented to ProTaper Ultimate F3 and obturated using a warm vertical compaction technique. External root surface temperature was measured 5 mm from the apex using a thermocouple, and the time required to reach a 10 °C increase was recorded for four systems. Each specimen was tested with all systems in randomized order. Dentin thickness was measured using cone-beam computed tomography. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc testing and linear regression (P < .05). Results: Plugger tip temperature profiles varied among systems, with Azdent and Gutta Smart demonstrating substantial temperature overshoot exceeding 500 °C, whereas B&L Alpha II and ZARC maintained more stable temperatures near the preset value. The time required to produce a 10 °C increase differed among systems (P < .05), with Gutta Smart demonstrating the shortest mean activation time (5.2 seconds) and Azdent the longest (11.4 seconds). A significant positive association was observed between dentin thickness and time to temperature increase for all systems (R² = 0.34–0.53, P < .001). Conclusions: Wireless heated plugger systems exhibit distinct thermal behaviors; however, plugger tip temperature does not directly predict heat transfer to the external root surface. Dentin thickness is a primary determinant of heat transfer, and careful control of activation time is recommended, particularly in teeth with reduced dentin thickness.

First Page

159

Last Page

166

Volume

7

Issue

3

Publisher

ScienceVolks

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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