COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF PUSH-OUT BOND STRENGTH OF FIBER POST LUTED INSIDE THE ROOT CANAL USING LIGHT CURE FLOWABLE COMPOSITE AND DUAL CURE RESIN - AN INVITRO STUDY

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare by means of Push-Out test the difference in bond strength of two different luting agents with fibre post, and the effect of anatomical root levels on the bond strength of each cement.

Materials and Methods: A total of 40 freshly extracted maxillary central incisor and canine teeth were included in the study. The teeth were divided into two groups of twenty each, and were assigned to Groups A and B according to the luting agent (light cure, dual cure) used to cement the post inside the root canal. After decoronation, 10 mm standardized post spaces were prepared inside each root. Luting of fiber posts was carried out, as per manufacturers recommendations, with the respective luting agents. Each root was embedded in a cuboidal plaster block and sectioning was carried out to obtain three slices of 2.5 mm thickness from the coronal, middle and apical aspect of the root. This was followed by Push-Out testing on a Universal Testing Machine after a storage period of 2 months. The recorded data were subjected to statistical analysis.

Results: Significant differences were found in the bond strength of light cure flowable composite and dual cure resin cement (p<.05) at different anatomical root levels. In the inter-group comparison it was found that dual cure presents superior mean bond strength in comparison with light cure composite.

Conclusion: It was concluded from this study that dual cure resin cement is the best material for luting fiber post to root canal. The push-out bond strength was lower in the apical third than the coronal third for light activated cements. Also, light cure flowable composite performs better when shorter posts are used.