Design And Evaluation Of A Length-Measuring Dental Mirror

To develop a dental mouth mirror with integrated length measurement and evaluate its in vitro performance. A new measuring mouth mirror was designed using #25 enlargement files and calibrated with a vernier caliper. A senior endodontist and a postgraduate student (junior clinician) used either the measuring mirror or a conventional ruler to adjust the working length of 10 files under both microscopic and standard visual conditions. Efficiency was also tested during simulated root canal cleaning in models with one to four canals. Measurement accuracy was similar between the mirror (0.191 ± 0.132 mm) and ruler (0.189 ± 0.982 mm, P > 0.05). Under microscopy, the mirror significantly reduced adjustment time for both senior (3.626 ± 0.307 s) and junior (4.491 ± 0.436 s) users. Time increased with canal number but remained consistently shorter with the mirror than the ruler. The senior group performed faster overall (P=.000), and the mirror outperformed the ruler across all conditions (P<0.05), especially in complex (multi-canal) scenarios. The newly developed measuring mouth mirror provides accurate length measurement and improves efficiency during root canal procedures, regardless of clinician experience. Its advantages are more evident in multi-canal cases, supporting its clinical value and potential for widespread use.