title: Effect of woven glass fibre reinforcement on the flexural strength of composites.
abstract: To measure and compare the flexural strength of composites reinforced with fibres, four groups of specimens (N = 10) were prepared from the combinations: Filtek Flow/Filtek Z250 and Esthet-X flow/Esthet-X dental composite. One group from each combination was reinforced with woven glass fibre (everStick net) and all the specimens subjected to three-point bend flexural testing. The mean and standard deviations for each test group were calculated and compared using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by pairwise Bonferroni T-tests at a preset alpha of p < 0.05. It was found that fibre reinforcement significantly (p < 0.001) increased the flexural strength of both types of composites. As the inclusion of only one layer of glass fibre net produced an increase of approximately 30% in the flexural strength of the composite samples, it can be speculated that multiple layers would increase it even more. The use of fibre-reinforcement to strengthen directly placed composite crowns and bridges will enable the clinician to provide a more cost effective service as well as aesthetic dentistry to more patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Limpopo (Medunsa campus), South Africa. tgo@hotmail.com
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Oberholzer
authors.forename: I C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: du Preez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lombard
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pitout
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D003188:Composite Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D003764:Dental Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods; D018583:Pliability; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; C029012:Composite Dental Resin; D003188:Composite Resins; D003764:Dental Materials; D011108:Polymers; D011140:Polyurethanes; C509952:fiberglass reinforced polymers