Reciproc Blue vs WaveOne Gold

Six comparative full texts were read for this pair: three cyclic-fatigue studies and three shaping studies in simulated canals. Both files are single-file reciprocating instruments with a size 25 tip; the R25 carries an 8 % apical taper and an S-shaped cross-section, the Primary a 7 % apical taper and an off-centred parallelogram. Their heat treatments differ, and so do their austenite-finish temperatures: 38 °C for Reciproc Blue and 49 °C for WaveOne Gold in one calorimetry run (PMID 33505619).

On fatigue, every room-temperature test favoured Reciproc Blue. In a 40-degree canal the R25 ran 1,117 s to fracture against 261 s for the Primary at 22 °C (PMID 33505619); in a 60-degree canal at 20 °C in water it reached 7,914 cycles against 4,626 (PMID 31857861). At body temperature the picture narrows. In the first study both times fell and the gap shrank to 292 s against 149 s (PMID 33505619); in the second, at 35 °C in water, the two files no longer differed (1,349 against 1,206 cycles) (PMID 31857861). A 2025 study in ceramic canals at 35 °C reopened the gap: Reciproc Blue recorded the highest cycle count of four systems in a 60-degree single curvature (1,837 against 594 for WaveOne Gold), while in a double curvature all four systems fell to a few hundred cycles and WaveOne Gold remained the lowest (PMID 40849465).

Stiffness moved the other way at body temperature. Reciproc Blue's bending resistance at 37 °C (1.12 N) exceeded WaveOne Gold's (0.71 N), which the authors tie to Reciproc Blue sitting almost fully austenitic at that temperature while WaveOne Gold keeps a share of R-phase; at room temperature the two did not differ (PMID 33505619).

On shaping, no simulated-canal study found a difference in transportation between the two files. In 40-degree resin canals with three-file sequences, transportation was equal and Reciproc Blue scored highest on overall centring, a difference that reached significance only against the third system, ProTaper Next (PMID 36883021). In a second resin-block study the apical third was shaped alike, Reciproc Blue was the most centred system in the middle third while removing less resin from the inner wall, and WaveOne Gold was more centred in the coronal third (PMID 35591361). In a third, the two files matched on whole-canal centring, both beat a third system coronally, and WaveOne Gold was more centred at one middle-third level (PMID 36381824).

Only one study timed the preparation: the Primary needed 121.47 s per simulated 40-degree canal against 192.47 s for the R25 (PMID 36381824). One study states that no instrument fractured during shaping (PMID 35591361); the other two report completed preparations without mentioning breakage.

What the read set does not cover: torsional strength, dentinal microcracks and clinical outcomes. The comparative papers on torsion, microcracks and finite-element bending are paywalled and were not read, so this page makes no claim on those axes.