Real-time Measurement of Intra-canal Temperature in Vivo
Condition: Healthy Patients
Study type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Summary: 
      Included patients will be attending the dental clinics for a root canal treatment. After
      explaining the procedure and obtaining their consent, the intracanal temperature of the
      treated tooth will be measured after irrigation with normal saline at 2 different
      temperatures: 22- and 45-degree Celsius. The intraoral temperature will be recorded using a
      thermocouple probe inserted inside the canal at the mid-root level. Intraoral temperature
      will be recorded at the same time using another probe attached to the lingual mucosa. A video
      will be recorded for the temperature changes over 180 seconds duration starting from the time
      of placing the irrigation solution into the canal.
    

Detailed description: 
      - Measurement of intracanal temperature in vivo Healthy patients attending the dental clinics
      for non-surgical root canal treatment of permanent mandibular first molars will be included
      in the study after obtaining ethical approval (IRB ethical approval ref. 10/158/2023). Their
      body temperature will be measured using a non-contact thermometer pointed at the forehead.
      Any patient with a body temperature higher than 37°C will not be included. The participants
      will sign a consent form after the procedure is fully explained. Upon rubber dam isolation,
      access cavity preparation will be performed, and canals will be chemo-mechanically prepared
      using a ProTaper Gold NiTi rotary system (Dentsply Sirona, Switzerland). Distal canals will
      be prepared up to the F3.

      A four-channel portable thermometer will be used with two K-type thermocouple probes to
      simultaneously measure both intracanal and intraoral temperatures. The intraoral temperature
      will be measured by securing the probe in direct contact with the lingual alveolar mucosa
      under the rubber dam. The intracanal temperature will be measured by another probe inserted
      inside the distal canal at the mid-root level. The insertion depth will be verified using a
      preoperative radiograph and a rubber stop. If the probe insertion to that depth is not
      possible, the tooth will be excluded. Based on a previous study, 20 teeth will be included in
      the experiment. In each canal, two measurements will be obtained; the first one will be
      irrigated using a normal saline set at room temperature (RT), and the other measurement will
      be taken after irrigation using heated normal saline (HT). The RT irrigation solution will be
      used while maintaining the ambient temperature of the air-conditioned clinic fixed at 22°C.
      The HT irrigation solution will be heated using a chairside dental composite heater set at
      45°C. The preset temperatures of each irrigation group will be confirmed with 3 repeated
      measurements.

      After securing the thermocouple probe inside the canal, the RT irrigation solution will be
      applied using a gauge-27 side vented needle. A video camera will be used for recording the
      change of both intraoral and intracanal temperatures appearing on the digital display of the
      thermometer for 180 seconds. After 5 min, the canal will be dried, and the HT irrigation
      solution will be applied repeating the same steps.

      The thermocouple probes will be chemically sterilized before each use. From the video
      recordings, still frames will be extracted at 5-second intervals using the VLC media player
      plotting the body and intracanal temperature at each time point.
    

Observational model: Case-Control
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        health patient attend the Dental teaching center at Jordan university of science and
        technology were recruited for the current study, patient was aware of the process and
        signed informed consent in which accept to measure the temperature of the canals, patient
        was informed with all safty measure.
      
Keywords: Intracanal temperature; irrigation temperature