Keywords
Esthetic post and core
High performance polymer
PEKK
Fracture resistance
Universal Testing Machine
How to Cite
Abstract
Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to investigate the resistance to fracture of Polyetherketoneketones PEKK, used as post and core by fabrication in different diameters in the canal, and comparing the test results for each group.
Methods: Thirty extracted mandibular premolars were selected, endodontically treated and prepared to receive the post and cores milled from polyetherketoneketone disk. The specimens were randomly divided into five groups (n = 6) respectively: group 1 received pekk post with diameter = 0.70 mm, group 2 received pekk post with diameter = 0.90 mm, group 3 received pekk post with diameter = 1.10 mm, group 4 received pekk post with diameter = 1.50 mm, and group 5 received pekk post with diameter = 1.70 mm. All the posts were cemented using a self-adhesive resin cement. Fracture resistance was tested using a universal testing machine, failure patterns were then observed visually and radiographically. For the fracture resistance test, the Universal Testing machine employed the load cell of 10KN and the speed of the cross head of 1mm/min. Data was analyzed using Oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey post-hoc test in order to determine significant differences among groups and the materiality threshold was set at α = 0.05.
Results: Statistical analysis revealed that the observed differences among the five groups were not significant. None of the PEKK posts caused any fracture in the root, and this observation was visually and radiographically confirmed across all groups.
Conclusions: The dentist will be able to turn the diameter of the PEKK post and core as thin as 0.70mm till 1.70mm depending on the clinical requirement with no risk of root fracture, as specified by the guidelines of this research.