Comparison of different irrigation activation techniques on postoperative pain after endodontic treatment: A randomized clinical trial

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of different irrigation activation methods on postoperative pain using a visual analog scale (VAS), using XP-endo Finisher (XPF), EndoActivator (EA), and passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI) activation techniques compared with the conventional irrigation (CI) method.
Methods: Twenty-five maxillary or mandibular nonvital teeth having a single root canal were allocated to each group. The root canals were prepared with the TF-Adaptive system. Three different activation techniques, XPF, PUI, and EA techniques, were applied during the final irrigation. The canal treatments were completed in a single appointment and postoperative pain analysis was evaluated using VAS after 12, 24, and 48 h.
Results: No difference was found in the 12- and 24-h time intervals between the groups (p>.05). A statistically significant difference was found between CI and XPF groups at 48 h (p<.05).
Conclusion: All activation techniques resulted in postoperative pain. Irrigant activation with XPF caused less postoperative pain than the conventional needle irrigation at 48 h while XPF demonstrated similar and tolerable results with PUI and EA after root canal treatment.