Evaluation of fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth restored with composite resin along with fibre insertion in different positions in vitro.

This study was carried out to compare the different techniques of placement of polyethylene fibre (Ribbond) on reinforcement of endodontically treated teeth with MOD cavities in vitro. Forty extracted human premolars were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 10). Teeth in Groups I-IV received root canal treatment and a MOD cavity preparation, with gingival cavosurface margin 1.5 mm in coronal to cementoenamel junction. Group I served as no fibre group, Group II as occlusal fibre group, Group III as base fibre group and Group IV as dual-fibre group (occlusal and base both). Subsequent to restoring with composite resin and thermocycling, a vertical compressive force was applied at a cross-head speed of 0.5 mm min(-1) using universal testing machine until fracture. Data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc tests. Fracture resistance was significantly highest in dual-fibre group (P < 0.001) as compared with other groups. The highest favourable fracture rate was observed in the base fibre group (70%). This study concluded that the use of polyethylene fibre inserted over or under the restoration significantly increased the fracture strength of the root canal-treated teeth and maximum fracture resistance was observed when cavity was restored using dual-fibre technique.