Clinical evaluation of carbon vs polyethylene fiber-reinforced composite posts

Objectives: to evaluate the clinical performance of two pre-fabricated post systems.

Methods: Thirty (30) patients 18 years or older needing post & cores were included in this study restoring 50 anterior teeth. Half the patients received prefabricated carbon fiber-reinforced posts (c-FRC), and the other half received custom-made polyethylene fiber-reinforced composite posts (p-FRC). The posts were assigned randomly. Inclusion criteria: teeth having a ferrule of at least 1.5 mm in height; teeth in occlusal function with a natural tooth and having proximal contact; teeth having homogeneous root fillings terminating 0-2 mm from the radiographic apex. Teeth with more than two coronal walls preserved or with mobility greater than 2 degrees were excluded. In both groups, root canal hybridization was performed using UltraEtch 35% phosphoric acid and PQ1 adhesive system (Ultradent, South Jordan, UT). 6 mm of gutta-percha was removed from the root canal in the c-FRC group and 4 mm in the p-FRC group. The prefabricated c-FRC (Endo Composipost, RTD, St. Egreve, France) was fitted and shortened with a diamond bur. In the p-FRC group, a polyethylene ribbon fiber (Ribbond Triaxial, Seattle, WA) was wetted with unfilled resin (Permaseal, Ultradent), placed into a canal, folded and light cured. Post cementation and core build-ups were completed using Perma-Flo DC resin cement in both groups. All teeth were covered with single-unit alumina-oxide based crowns (Procera AllCeram, Nobel Biocare, Sweden).

Results: All but three restorations were evaluated after a 18-m period by two independent evaluators pre-calibrated at 85% reliability. One post debonding failure occurred during temporary crown removal from either group. The log-rank test showed no statistical significant difference in the survival of the two post & core systems (p>0.5). Conclusion: Although short-length posts were selected for the p-FRC group, post & core restorations performed equally as well in both groups.