ProTaper Gold® F3, 21mm (6)

ProTaper Gold® · F3 030/.09v · 21 mm · pack of 6

Curved canalsApical finishingSterileSingle use21 mm

The biggest taper in the range, and the file the fatigue figure was measured on

F3 carries a .09 apical taper – the widest in the ProTaper Gold sequence. It is also the file Dentsply Sirona tested for the headline cyclic-fatigue figure, so the number on this page is F3’s own rather than a range average.

Dentsply Sirona’s own figures against ProTaper® Universal, internal testing, data on file. x 2.6 is the F3 file; x 2.4 the system.

This pack: ProTaper Gold® F3 Rotary File, 21 mm (Pack of 6)
Made by Dentsply Sirona · legal manufacturer Maillefer Instruments Holding Sàrl, Ballaigues · UK representative Dentsply IH Ltd, Stonehouse

Key features

›  Same geometry as ProTaper Universal. Dentsply Sirona are explicit that the shapes did not change – the files “feature the same exact geometries as ProTaper® Universal, but offer an increase in flexibility”. If you know the sequence, you already know this file.
›  Heat-treated nickel titanium. The instructions describe it as nickel titanium alloy “followed by a heat treatment”. That is the whole difference, and it is what the gold colour is telling you.
›  11 mm handle. Two millimetres shorter than ProTaper Universal’s, which is two millimetres of access you get back on a second molar.
›  Gauge with ISO 030. The instructions have you check the foramen with a hand file of the same size after this one. Snug at length and you are finished.

The numbers

How Dentsply Sirona sequence it

The sequence is the same regardless of the length, diameter or curvature of the canal – that is Dentsply Sirona’s own wording. F3 follows F2 at step 17, when an ISO 025 hand file is still loose at length. Shaping files brush on the outstroke; finishing files do not brush at all. Irrigate abundantly and frequently after each instrument.

From the ProTaper Gold instructions for use, February 2026 – their sequence, not ours.

Motor settings

300 rpm in continuous rotation, torque 3 – 4 Ncm. Those figures are from the February 2026 instructions for use and are not in the 2017 brochure, which gives no torque at all. Note the shape of the table: the shaping files take the most torque and S2 and F1 the least.

Before you buy

Dentsply Sirona say this file, like every engine-driven root canal instrument, should not be used in a canal with an abrupt apical curvature, and that pre-curved hand files should be used in the apical region instead. Contraindications: none known.

In the UK, endodontic reamers and files are treated as single use – the Chief Dental Officer’s instruction of 19 April 2007, not a QED policy. So a blister of six is six canals, not six cases.

What we get asked

Will it fit my motor?
It needs continuous rotation at 300 rpm with torque control. X-Smart Pro+ is Dentsply Sirona’s own.

Which cone matches it?
ProTaper Gold Conform Fit gutta percha F3, with the matched paper points. The preparation is variable taper, so a constant-taper cone is the wrong cone.

Is it sterile?
Yes – supplied sterile in a blister of six, sterilised by radiation. In the UK the file is then single use.

Complete the case

Downloads

›  ProTaper Gold® brochure (PDF, 1.5 MB, Dentsply Sirona) – the geometry table, the full product reference list and the published claims.

Geometry, sizes, tapers, torque, speed and the sequence are from the ProTaper Gold instructions for use, END-IFU-PROTAPER-GOLD-REUSABLE-STERILE-V03, February 2026 (their document, on their site), and the ProTaper Gold brochure, ROW EN, 11/2017. The flexibility and cyclic-fatigue figures are Dentsply Sirona’s internal testing, data on file; the independent studies cited are laboratory and ex vivo work and are labelled as such. Dentsply Sirona, ProTaper, ProTaper Gold, Conform Fit, Thermafil, Glyde, ProGlider, PathFile, X-Smart and SDR are their trademarks.

ProTaper Gold® F3 · 030/.09v · 21 mm · blister of 6 · sterile · single use in the UK · 300 rpm · REF A0411221G0303