• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.200-213
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• 2000

Lasers have given dentistry a new rapid, economic, and accurate technique for metal joining. Although laser welding has been recommended as an accurate technique, there are some limitations with this technique. For example, the two joining surfaces must have a tight-fitting contact, which may be difficult to achieve in some situations. The tensile samples used for this study were made from a custom-made pure titanium and type III gold alloy plates. 27 of 33 specimens were sectioned perpendicular to their long axis with a carborundum disk and water coolant. Six specimens remained and served as the control group. A group of 6 specimens was posed as butt joints in custom parallel positioning device with a feeler gauge at each of three gaps : 0.00, 0.25. and 0.50mm. All specimens were then machined to produce a uniform cross-sectional dimension, none of the specimens was subjected to any subsequent form of heat treatment. Scanning electron microscopy was performed on representative tested specimens at fractured surfaces in both the parent metal and the weld. Vickers hardness was measured at the center of the welds with a micropenetrometer using a force of 300gm for 15 seconds. Measurement was made at approximately $200{\mu}m\;and\;500{\mu}m$ deep from each surface. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe's test was calculated to detect differences between groups. The purpose of this study is to compare the strength and properties of the joint achieved at various butt Joint gaps by the laser welding of type III gold alloy and pure titanium tensile specimens in an argon atmosphere. The results of this study were as follows : 1. When indexing and welding pure titanium, there was no decrease in ultimate tensile strength as compared with the unsectioned alloys for indexing gaps of 0.00 to 0.50mm, although with increasing gap size may come increased distortion (p>0.05). 2. When indexing and welding type III gold alloy, there were significant differences in ultimate tensile strength among groups with weld gaps of 0.00mm, 0.25 and 0.50mm, and the control group. Group with butt contact without weld gap demonstrated a significant higher ultimate tensile strength than groups with weld gaps of 0.25 and 0.50mm (p<0.05). 3. When indexing and welding the different metal combination of type III gold alloy and pure titanium, there were significant differences in ultimate tensile strength between groups with weld gaps of 0.00, 0.25, and 0.50mm. However, the mechanical properties of the welded joint would become too brittle to be acceptable clinically (p<0.05). 4. The presence of large pores in the laser welded joint appears to be the most important factor in controlling the tensile strength of the weld in both pure titanium and type III gold alloy.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.530-541
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• 2007

Currently, various Nickel-Titanium rotary files are used in endodontic treatment, but there is no one perfect system that can be applied to any clinical situation. Therefore, the combined uses of various file systems which can emphasize the advantages of each system are introduced as hybrid instrumentation. The ProTaper system is efficient in body shaping and apical pre-enlargement but is reported to have more possibility of transportation and produce more aberrations and deformation in more or less severe curved canals. Recently, new ProTaper system(ProTaper Universal) with different configuration and cross-sectional design to overcome the week points of ProTaper have been marketed. The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the shaping abilities of ProTaper, ProTaper Universal system, and two hybrid methods using S-series of ProTaper Universal and Hero Shaper or ProFile. The time lapses for instrumentation were measured and the used files were inspected for distortion. The pre- and post-instrumented root canals were scanned and superimposed to evaluate the aberrations and reduction of root canal curvature and change of radius of canal curvature. The increased canal width and apical centering ratio were calculated at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 mm levels from apical foramen. Under the conditions of this study, the ProTaper Universal seems to have better shaping ability than ProTaper in terms of instrumented width and instrumentation time. It may be suggested that the ProTaper Universal system is efficient as much as hybrid instrumentation using ProTaper and other constant-tapered NiTi file systems in highly experienced operators.