Throughout the years the aim of endodontic treatment had been to achieve a complete seal of the apical foramen. Objectives: The objective of this is to compare the efficiency between the active lateral condensation and apical impression techniques. Methods: We used eighty healthy premolars extracted for orthodontic purpose, which were prepared mechanically for root canal treatment and divided them in two groups. Root canals were filled using gutta percha points, one group (Group A) was sealed using the active lateral condensation, and the other group (Group B) was sealed using with the apical impression technique. Teeth of group B, 1 mm of the tips of the main gutta percha points were treated for 10 seconds in trichloromethane. After sealing all the teeth of both groups, 3 mm of the apical region of were immersed in methilene blue, for 24 hours and left to dry for 48 hours. After this, the teeth were cut by their longitudinal axis and the leaking was observed stained by the methilene blue solution. Results: The level of leakage was measured with a ruler. Our results showed that 32 % of the teeth of group A showed a leakage higher than 7 mm from the apex compared with 4% of the group sealed with apical impression technique. Conclusion: Therefore, we can say that the apical impression technique is a simple and reliable alternative technique for root canal filling.

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