In vitro fracture resistance of glass-fiber and cast metal posts with different lengths.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Dental fractures can occur in endodontically treated teeth restored with posts. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro fracture resistance of roots with glass-fiber and metal posts of different lengths. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixty endodontically treated maxillary canines were embedded in acrylic resin, except for 4 mm of the cervical area, after removing the clinical crowns. The post spaces were opened with a cylindrical bur at low speed attached to a surveyor, resulting in preparations with lengths of 6 mm (group 6 mm), 8 mm (group 8 mm), or 10 mm (group 10 mm). Each group was divided into 2 subgroups according to the post material: cast post and core or glass-fiber post (n=30). The posts were luted with dual-polymerizing resin cement (Panavia F). Cast posts and cores of Co-Cr (Resilient Plus) crowns were made and cemented with zinc phosphate. Specimens were subjected to increasing compressive load (N) until fracture. Data were analyzed with 2-way ANOVA and the Tukey-Kramer test (alpha =.05). RESULTS The ANOVA analysis indicated significant differences (P<.05) among the groups, and the Tukey test revealed no significant difference among the metal posts of 6-mm length (26.5 N +/-13.4), 8-mm length (25.2 N +/-13.9), and 10-mm length (17.1 N +/-5.2). Also, in the glass-fiber post group, there was no significant difference when posts of 8-mm length (13.4 N +/-11.0) were compared with the 6-mm (6.9 N +/-4.6) and 10-mm (31.7 N +/-13.1) groups. The 10-mm-long post displayed superior fracture resistance, and the 6-mm-long post showed significantly lower mean values (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that the glass-fiber post represents a viable alternative to the cast metal post, increasing the resistance to fracture of endodontically treated canines.