The effect of dowel length on the retention of two different endodontic posts

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Background: Several factors govern the retentiveness of endodontic posts, the shape of the post and its length are
among the essential factors.
This invitro study formulated to compare the retentive values of stainless steel, parallel sided, serrated posts (Euro
post) to fiber reinforced, tapered ,smooth posts (Easy post) at two embedment depth (5and 10 mm).
Materials and methods: Thirty two intact human mandibular second premolars were selected for this study. These
samples were endodonticlly treated, and randomly divided in to four groups of eight teeth each:
Group Ι: teeth restored with Easy post at embedment depth 10mm. Group ΙΙ: teeth restored with Easy post at
embedment depth 5mm. Group ΙΙΙ: teeth restored with Euro post at embedment depth 10mm. Group ΙV: teeth
restored with Euro post at embedment depth 5mm. Tensile failure loads were measured in the absence of crowns
using an instron test machine at across head speed of 5 mm/min .Values were recorded in Newton Mean values and
standard deviations were analyzed with one way ANOVA test and the least significant differences test.
Results: retentive failure loads were recorded for all test specimens; the means and standard deviation for each
group were as follows: group Ι: 65.75±23.6 ; group ΙΙ: 64.25 ±22.2, group: 189.5±25.9,and group ΙV: 221.1±27.
Conclusion: Endodontically treated teeth restored with Euro post (stainless steel/parallel sided /serrated posts)
showed significantly greater retentive values than Easy post (fiber reinforced composite /tapered/smooth posts), also
there was no significant difference in retentive values are achieved with both systems at 5mm and 10mm post
length.
Key words: Euro post, fiber reinforced posts, post length, retention. J Bagh Coll Dentistry 2009; 21(1): 24-27)