A 10-year retrospective study of the survival rate of teeth restored with metal prefabricated posts versus cast metal posts and cores

Abstract

Objective The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the cumulative survival rate of teeth restored with prefabricated posts and with cobalt-chrome cast post-cores. Methods 112 endodontically treated teeth restored with prefabricated post and cobalt-chrome cast post-and-cores were evaluated. Teeth were considered as failures when were objective or radiologic sign of endodontic failure, post or root fracture, or when they had been extracted at the moment of the evaluation. Kaplan–Meier's method was used to reconstruct the survival curves of the restorations and to test the variable type of post-and-core restoration. Results 93 of the posts were still in function without clinical or radiographic signs of failure at the time of the examination resulting in a survival rate of 83.03% after a mean follow-up period of 10.08 years. When comparing the two techniques, prefabricated posts showed a slightly higher survival rate: 84.6% versus 82.6%.Focusing on tooth-type, maxillary premolars ( n = 30) had the highest failure rate (30%) and also the lowest mean lifetime, with 6-and-a-half years. Maxillary incisors ( n = 20) showed the highest success rate (5%) with only one case of failure. Conclusions The results showed no significant difference between both groups after a 10-year average follow-up.