by Dr Rajah Selvarajah, Sydney, NSW
For a few years, Endodontists have been looking to develop rotary instruments to aid in the preparation of root canals. This system builds on that idea.
What’s good about it
The best feature of rotary systems in general is the great reduction in hand strain (and blisters!) and eventually greater time efficiency.
The Dentaport ZX has an apex location system built in to simplify canal length measurement and make preparation to the standard 0.5 millimetres from the apex more predictable. This apex location system is particularly precise as it uses two different frequencies to calculate the length.
Other features of this system are the Auto Apical Slowdown which tends to prevent over-instrumentation and the Auto Torque Reverse which helps avoid file binding and fracture.
What’s not so good
Rotary systems in general should be used with caution in very curved canals as there is more likelihood of file fracture. In posterior areas of the mouth, it is sometimes hard to place the handpiece in the correct angulation for each canal.
The Endo-Wave (nickel titanium) files that are recommended for use with the system have good flexibility but proper hands-on training is imperative to ensure the correct use of file sizes in (crown-down) curved canal preparation and to get the best out of the system.
