Fracture resistance of pulpless teeth restored with post-cores and crowns

The present study was designed to test the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the fracture resistance of pulpless teeth restored with different types of post-core systems and full coverage crowns. Extracted human upper premolars were restored with a fiber post, prefabricated metallic post or cast metallic post-core. Teeth with full crown preparations without post-core restorations served as a control. All teeth were restored with full coverage crowns. A 90-degree vertical or 45-degree oblique load was applied to the restored teeth with a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min, and the fracture loads and mode of fracture were recorded. Under the condition of vertical loading, the fracture load of teeth restored with the cast metallic post-cores was greatest among the groups (two-factor factorial ANOVA and Scheffe's F test, P