Impact and Fracture Strength of Simulated Immature Teeth Treated with Mineral Trioxide Aggregate Apical Plug and Fiber Post Versus Revascularization.

INTRODUCTION: Immature necrotic teeth are at a high risk of fracture, especially at the cervical region, after treatment. This study aimed to compare the impact and fracture strength of immature permanent teeth treated with revascularization versus a mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) plug and fiber post.

METHODS: This in vitro, experimental study was conducted on 160 maxillary central incisors, which were randomly divided into 10 groups. The groups included a fracture (F) and impact (I) negative control group, F and I positive control groups, F and I MTA groups, F and I revascularizing group, and F and I revascularized groups. Fracture strength was measured using a universal testing machine with a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. Other tooth samples were then subjected to the Charpy impact test for impact strength measurements, and the amount of energy absorbed by the teeth was determined. Data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, analysis of variance, and the Tukey test.

RESULTS: The mean load to fracture of the negative, positive, MTA, revacularizing, and revascularized groups was 1931.8, 1350.1, 1003.8, 1262.5, and 1100.2 N, respectively, and the mean impact strength was 5.04, 3.6, 3.68, 3.16, and 3.65 J, respectively. The fracture and impact strength of the negative control group was significantly higher than that of the other groups (P < .05), but the other groups were not significantly different in this respect (P > .05).

CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limitations of this study, the results showed that none of the tested modalities could significantly increase the impact and fracture strength of simulated immature teeth.