Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the fracture strength of endodontically treated mandibular premolar teeth restored with composites and different reinforcement techniques. Methods and materials: Forty-eight freshly extracted human mandibular premolar teeth were randomly divided into four groups: group IN, group CR, group FRC, and group PRF. Group IN consisted of teeth with intact crowns and served as the control group. In the other three groups, endodontic treatment was performed and standard mesio-occluso-distal (MOD) cavities were prepared. Then cavities were restored with hybrid resin composite only, flowable composite and hybrid resin composite, and Ribbond, flowable composite and hybrid resin composite in groups CR, FRC and PRF, respectively. All of the teeth were subjected to fracture by means of a universal testing machine, and compressive force was applied with a modified stainless-steel ball at a crosshead speed at 0.5 mm/min. Results: The highest values were observed in group IN, while the lowest values were determined in group CR. There was not any statistically significant difference between group CR and group FCR ( p>0.05). When groups CR, FCR, and PRF were compared, group PRF showed significantly better fracture strength than did groups CR and FCR ( p<0.05). It was determined that there was not any significant difference between group IN and group PRF ( p>0.05). Conclusions: Polyethylene ribbon fiber considerably increases the fracture strength of mandibular premolar teeth with MOD cavities restored with composite.