Effect of Chloroform, Eucalyptol and Orange Oil Solvents on the Microhardness of Human Root Dentin

Objectives: this study aimed to assess the effect of chloroform, eucalyptol and orange oil solvents on the microhardness of human root dentin.materials and methods: sixty-eight single-rooted single-canal extracted human premolar teeth were used. tooth crowns were separated from the roots at the ce-mentoenamel junction (cej). roots were buccolingually sectioned into mesial and distal halves. specimens were randomly divided into 5 groups, with 20 teeth in each solvent group and 4 teeth in each control group. primary microhardness of specimens was measured using vickers microhardness tester. specimens were ex-posed to solvents for 15 minutes and were subjected to microhardness testing again. data were recorded and analyzed using repeated measure anova.results: no significant difference was found in dentin microhardness before and after exposure to solvents in any of the orange oil, eucalyptol, chloroform or sa-line groups (p=0.727). none of the experimental groups showed any significant difference in terms of dentin microhardness reduction (p=0.99) and had no signif-icant difference with the negative control group.conclusion: this study showed that chloroform, eucalyptol and orange oil as gut-ta percha solvents did not decrease the microhardness of root dentin. thus, none of the mentioned solvents has any superiority over the others in terms of affecting dentin properties.