title: Clinical Outcomes of Zirconium-Oxide Posts: Up-to-Date Systematic Review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the clinical outcomes of the use of zirconium-oxide posts in the past 20 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  The addressed question was: Do zirconium-oxide posts maintain the long-term survival rate of endodontically treated teeth? A database search was made of articles from January 1995 to December 2014; it included combinations of the following keywords: "zirconia," "zirconium oxide," "dowel/dowels," "post/posts," and "post and core." Exclusion criteria included review articles, experimental studies, case reports, commentaries, and articles published in a language other than English. Articles were reviewed by the titles, followed by the abstracts, and, finally, the full text of the selected studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four studies were included after filtering the selected studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In one study, the prefabricated zirconia posts with indirect glass-ceramic cores had significantly higher failure rates than other posts with direct composite cores. In two studies, no failure of the cemented posts was observed throughout the follow-up period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the limited number of clinical studies, it can be concluded that the long-term success rate of prefabricated zirconium-oxide posts is unclear.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ahmad M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Al-Thobity
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011176:Post and Core Technique; D019553:Tooth, Nonvital; D015040:Zirconium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015040:Zirconium; C028541:zirconium oxide