The Effect of Intraradicular Multiple Fiber and Cast Posts on the Fracture Resistance of Endodontically Treated Teeth with Wide Root Canals.

INTRODUCTION: The endodontically treated teeth (ETT) with thin remaining radicular dentin thickness are predisposed to fracture; hence it requires the diligent selection and the execution of endodontic post treatment. The objective of the study was to evaluate the reinforcing effect of both multiple fiber reinforced composite (FRC) and Ni-Cr cast metal posts at anterior and posterior regions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty recently extracted root canal treated canine and single rooted premolar teeth were used for the study. They were randomly divided into four groups (n=10) as: Group 1, single FRC post; Group 2, multiple FRC posts; Group 3, single Ni-Cr metal post, Group 4, multiple Ni-Cr posts. The posts were cemented with self-adhesive resin cement and subsequently restored with full veneer metal crown. The compressive static load at 130(0) for canine and 45(0) for premolar was applied with the cross-head speed of 0.5mm/minute until the fracture. The obtained data was analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Pairwise comparison tests with SPSS. RESULTS: The results indicate that multiple FRC post restored canine had the maximum fracture load (1843.80+/-7.13 N), followed by cast multiple posts (1648.99+/-26.84 N), single fiber post (1623+/-40.31 N), and cast metal single post (1493+/-27.33 N). A similar trend was observed in premolar with higher max fracture load with multiple FRC posts at 1920.86+/-20.61 N and multiple cast metal posts at 1735.43+/-6.05 N. CONCLUSION: The restoration of ETT with larger canals by multiple FRC and metal posts provides substantially higher fracture resistance in comparison to wider single post.