The purpose of this study was to observe the resulting canal shape after using hand, sonic and ultrasonic instrumentation. Thirty canals from extracted human upper or lower 1st and 2nd molars were divided into 3 groups: hand, sonic and ultrasonic instrumentation group. 10 canals of each group were individually prepared with one of three instrumentation methods. After instrumentation and histological processing, apical, middle and coronal third cross sections were examined on the roundness of the canal by microscope. The result were as follows. 1. All experimented groups showed no significant difference in canal roundness regardless of size and level of the canal. 2. Sonic air instrumentation groups revealed Significantly better canal roundness than ultrasonic groups at the middle third of the fine canal. 3. In ultrasonic instrumentation groups, the roundness of the large canal was significantly better than that of fine canal.