Fracture Resistance of Endodontically Treated Roots Restored with Fiber Posts Using Different Resin Cements- An In-vitro Study.

Abstract

The influence of the remaining coronal tooth structure along with intra-radicular esthetic posts increases fracture resistance of fractured teeth especially in the anterior region. The advent of resin based luting cements improves the adhesion of fiber posts. To evaluate the fracture resistance of endodontically treated roots restored with fiber posts using different resin cements - Calibra (etch and rinse), PermaFlo® DC (self-etch primer) and SmartCem2 (self-adhesive). Extracted human maxillary central incisors having similar dimensions were decoronated at the Cemento-Enamel Junction (CEJ) to create 16mm long specimens and endodontically treated. A total of 45 teeth were divided into three groups with 15 teeth each for cementation of easy fiber posts (size1, 0.8mm diameter). Post spaces were prepared to a depth of 10mm. Group 1 - Caulk 34% phosphoric acid gel, dual cure adhesive Prime and Bond NT followed by luting of post with Calibra cement. Group 2 - Ultra - etch then Primer A and Primer B, and PermaFlo® DC was used to cement the post. Group 3 - SmartCem2 [1:1 ratio] was used to cement the post. The excess lengths of posts were seared and teeth were mounted on acrylic blocks and loaded under compressive force to the long axis of the tooth which increased in periodic pattern of 1mm/min. The value of the force at which each root section gets fractured was noted. The data were statistically analysed using ANOVA and Tukey's Test. The mean fracture load (and SD) were as follows Group 1 - 762.400 (251.490); Group 2 - 662.933 (206.709); Group 3 - 657.800 (57.372). No statistically significant differences were seen among all three Groups, p-value (0.228). Posts cemented using self -adhesive resin cement SmartCem2 have highest fracture resistance and bonding efficacy of self-adhesive technique showed reliably better results but was comparable to total-etch and self-etch techniques.