Surface Wear and Distortion of RaCe, Protaper and K3 Endodontics Instruments-An SEM in Vitro Study

A Comparative evaluation of surface wear and distortion of ProTaper, RaCe and K3 nickel-titanium rotary instruments was done using resin blocks with 20 degrees curvature. Three groups of four samples were evaluated for spiral distortion and surface wear after instrumentation. The deformation and fracture of F1 of ProTaper, 0.06 tapers RaCe and were photographically recorded SEM 250X using magnification. It was evident from the scores obtained and SEM pictures analysed that ProTaper instruments exhibited significantly higher degree of spiral distortion and surface wear compared to both RaCe and K3, with no statistical variation between the latter two systems.