Comparison of antifungal effect of ZOE, Metapex and Sealapex on Candida Albicans

The antiseptic characteristic of root canal filling materials seems very critical in pulpectomy procedure to eliminate residual pathogens of root canals. The aim of this laboratory study was to compare the antifungal activity against Candida albicans of ZOE with calcium hydroxide root canal filling pastes (Sealapex and Metapex).
An exprimental study was conducted and agar diffusion inhibitory test was used to assess antifungal activity. Thirty 10-cm-diameter dishes with four mm thickness of agar inoculated with Candida albicans were used and four five-mm-diameter wells per dish at equidistant points were filled with the three test root canal filling pastes (ZOE, Sealapex and Metapex) and distilled water as a negative control. After incubation of the plates at 37oC for 48 h, the diameter of the zones of fungal growth inhibition produced around the wells was measured (in mm) with a caliper. Kruskall-Wallis test was used to analyse the data. Level of significancy was less than 0.05.
Kruskall-Wallis test indicated that there were statistically significant differences (p Based on the results of this study, it appears that ZOE has more antifungal activity than Metapex and Sealapex.