The benefits of using low accelerating voltage to assess endodontic instruments by scanning electron microscopy

Scanning electron microscopy is often used to evaluate surface contamination and machining defects in dental and other medical instruments. Knowledge of the operating conditions of the SEM, in particular the accelerating voltage, is essential to properly interpret images of such material. We demonstrate the importance of using low accelerating voltages to detect surface features including contamination on NiTi rotary and hand files, and conclude that even recent studies may have significantly underestimated the amount of non-metallic debris (from the manufacturing process or from biological contamination) present on the surface of such instruments.