Fibre-reinforced composite fixed dental prosthesis with shell-shaped-teeth used as pontics

Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the load-bearing capacities of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) using shell-shaped acrylic resin denture teeth as pontics with different composite resins as filling materials. METHODS AND MATERIALS: 84 inlay-retained FDPs with FRC frameworks were made. Shell-shaped posterior artificial teeth (GC) were used as pontics in the fabrication of the FRC FPDs. The FRC frameworks were made in the conventional way using two unidirectional glass fibers (everStick C&B, StickTech-GC) with one additional transversal fiber reinforcement. Three composite resins were used as filling materials to complete the shape of the pontics: flowable composite (G-anial Universal Flo, GC), hybrid composite (G-anial Posterior, GC), everX Posterior (GC) with the conventional FRC framework and everX Posterior without the transversal reinforcement. The FDPs were divided into four groups (n = 21/group) based on the artificial tooth’s filling material. Each group was subdivided in three subgroups: (a) dry specimens tested at 90◦, (b) dry specimens tested at 30◦ and (c) specimens stored in water during one month tested at 90◦ to the plane of the occlusal surface. Each FDP was statically loaded from the pontic until the final fracture. Initial fracture point was collected from the load-deflection graph. RESULTS: Mean values are presented in Table 1. ANOVA revealed significant differences in the load-bearing capacities according to material (p = 0.002), angle (p < 0.001), but not according to storage (p = 0.263). CONCLUSION: The filling material influenced the load-bearing capacities of FRC FDPs with shell-shaped acrylic resin denture teeth used as pontics. everX Posterior had the highest load-bearing capacity when tested at 90◦. G-anial Universal Flo provided the most durable FDP when tested at 30◦.