One hundred fifty-three single rooted teeth were divided into four groups. Canals were cleaned and shaped using the balanced forces technique. In one group of 50 teeth, irrigation was delivered with the irrigation needle deep within the root canal. In the other group of 51 teeth, the needle was placed passively in the coronal access cavity and the irrigation carried into the root canal during filing. The remaining 52 teeth in the control groups were treated in the same manner using distilled water as the irrigation solution. The concentration of sodium extruded apically was measured by means of atomic emission spectrophotometry, and the volume of sodium hypochlorite extruded was calculated. Significantly more sodium hypochlorite was extruded apically during deep delivery of the irrigation (p<0.05). It is concluded that the use of a reservoir of irrigation in the coronal access cavity results in significantly less apical extrusion of irrigation solution than with deep delivery.