[Fiber post versus metal screw post for repair of residual crowns and roots: a systematic review].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the restorative effectiveness of fiber post versus metal screw post through systematical review. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) data from the establishment of the database up to June 2013 were searched from MEDLINE (Ovid), PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, Wanfang Data, VIP, CNKI and CBM using the designed strategy. After data extraction and quality review of the retrieved articles by two independent investigators, the softwares of RevMan 5.1.0 and GRAED profiler 3.2.2 were employed to process data analysis. RESULTS: Ten RCTs were finally included, of which 1 was English literature and 9 were Chinese literatures. Meta analysis suggested that the survival rate of repair of adult and young permanent teeth was significantly higher using fiber post than metal screw post [RR=1.21,95%CI(1.13,1.30), P<0.01,RR=1.21,95%CI(1.10,1.34), P<0.01], and the results root fracture rate was significantly lower [RR=0.16,95%CI(0.05,0.48),P=0.001]. No significant difference was found in the rate of post-core fall off [RR=0.76,95%CI(0.33,1.73), P>0.05] and gingivitis [RR=0.71, 95%CI(0.27,1.88), P>0.05]. All outcomes were of low quality in the GRADE system. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with metal screw post, the survival rate is significantly higher and the root fracture rate is significantly lower by using fiber post. However, the conclusion is limited by lack of relevant studies, small sample sizes, inadequate quality and diversified methodology. Further study is needed by employing more well-designed, large-sample and multi-center RCTs to verify the conclusion.