10-year Survival Evaluation for Glass-fiber-supported Postendodontic Restoration: A Prospective Observational Clinical Study

Introduction: Glass-fiber reinforced endodontic posts (GFRPs), in combination with composite resin core materials, are commonly used to build up damaged endodontically treated teeth. However, long-term clinical data are scarce. Thus, the aim of this investigation was to evaluate the survival of 3 different GFRP systems, taking into account several other relevant factors. Methods: One-hundred forty-nine GFRPs in 122 patients were followed for up to 120 months. GFRPs were adhesively luted using the etch-and-rinse technique. The core was built with a chemically curing composite resin and restored according to the specific prosthetic treatment plan. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association between clinical variables and the time until failure. Results: Within 10 years, 55 failures could be observed (annual failure rate = 4.6%) with the most frequent ones being post fracture, loss of post retention (both n = 17), enclodontic problems (n = 7), and those resulting in tooth extraction (n = 10). Sixty posts could be followed up for 105 to 120 months (34 posts lost to follow-up, [mean (standard deviation) survival time: 74 (43) months)). In crude analyses, only the tooth type in favor of posterior teeth compared with anterior teeth and the number of remaining cavity walls (in favor of >= 1compared with no wall) were significantly associated with the failure rate. Cox regression analysis revealed a significant hazard ratio of 2.0 (95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.5; P = .021) for tooth type in favor of posterior teeth. Conclusions: The relatively high annual failure rate of GFRPs highlights that the treatment decision should take into account the most relevant factors as tooth type and the number of remaining cavity walls. (J Endod 2012;38:432-435)