title: Influence of remaining dentin wall thickness on the fracture strength of endodontically treated tooth.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Remaining dentin wall thickness may influence the fracture resistance of tooth.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of various coronal dentin wall widths on the fracture strength of root canal treated teeth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty recently extracted single canal mandibular premolars were used for the study. Ten unrestored teeth were used as control (Group 1); remaining teeth were root canal treated and divided into four groups (n = 10). The Groups 2a, 2b and 3a, 3b were having 2.5 mm, 1.5 mm remaining dentin with and without post, respectively. The samples fracture resistance was tested under the universal testing machine. The data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey test for comparative evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean fracture strength observed in Group 1 was (29.75 Mpa) followed by Group 2a (28.97 Mpa), Group 2b (27.70 Mpa), Group 3a (23.39 Mpa), and Group 3b (16.38 Mpa). There was no statistically significant difference between control and Groups 2a and 2b with P > 0.05. The post contributed significantly for fracture resistance in Group 3a.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The endodontic post is not required in root canal treated teeth >2.5 mm coronal dentin wall width while the post is essential for a tooth with <1.5 mm dentin wall width to improve fracture resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Satheesh B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Haralur
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ali Saad
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Al-Qahtani
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Marie Mohammed
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Al-Qarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Rami Mohammed
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Al-Homrany
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ayyob Ehsan
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Aboalkhair
keywords: Dentin; endodontically treated; post and core technique; tooth fractures