AN IN VITRO EVALUATION OF THE ACCURACY OF ROOT ZX ELECTRONIC APEX LOCATOR

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro accuracy of Root ZX(Morita Co., Japan) which is the ratio type electronic apex locator. The 86 extracted human palatal roots of maxillary molar with fully formed apices were used. File lengths with the file tip just visible at the foramen were compared to those measured with Root ZX. For length measuring with Root ZX, saline test model with which the apical 1/3 of each root was submerged into normal saline were designed. The root canal lengths were determined with Root ZX and the radiographs were taken with a file in the canal. The distances from file tips of Root ZX lengths to apecies in radiographs also were measured with Profile projector PJ311(Mitutoyo Co., Japan). The results were as follows : 1. The root canal length determined with electronic apex locator was shorter than the length with visual measurement. 2. The file tip of Root ZX lengths was located at away from the apex in radiograph. 3. The accuracy of the Root ZX was 79.1% within 0.5mm of visual working length and 96.5% within 1.0mm.