Fracture resistance of short, randomly oriented, glass fiber-reinforced composite premolar crowns.

The aim of this work was to determine the static load-bearing capacity of posterior composite crowns made of experimental composite resin (FC) with short fiber fillers and a semi-interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) matrix. In addition, we wanted to investigate how load-bearing capacity of surface composite resins was affected by substructures of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) and FC, and by different curing systems. Five groups of crowns were fabricated (n=6). The crowns were either polymerized with a hand-light curing unit (LCU) or cured in a vacuum curing device (VLC) before they were statically loaded at a speed of 1mm min(-1) until fracture. Failure modes were visually examined. Data were analyzed using ANOVA. ANOVA revealed that crowns made from the FC had a statistically significant higher load-bearing capacity than the control PFC composite. Crowns with FRC substructure and PFC covering gave force values of 348N (LCU) and 1199N (VLC), respectively, which were lower than the values of FC composite. No statistically significant difference was found between crowns made from plain FC composite and those made from FC composite with a surface layer of PFC (P=0.892 and 1.00). Restorations made from short glass fiber-containing composite resin with IPN-polymer matrix showed better load bearing capacity than those made with either plain PFC or PFC reinforced with FRC substructure.