Effect of glass fiber post customization on the mechanical properties of resin cement and underlying dentin

This study evaluated the Martens hardness (HM) and elastic modulus (E_IT) of resin cement and dentin underlying the bonding interface of customized glass fiber posts luted to intraradicular dentin and subjected to mechanical cycling. Two null hypotheses were tested: (1) no differences in the mechanical properties (HM and E_IT) of the resin cement and underlying dentin would be found between customized and noncustomized glass fiber post groups, with or without mechanical cycling; and (2) no differences in the mechanical properties of the resin cement or underlying dentin would be found between the cervical, middle, and apical thirds of the intraradicular dentin. Forty single-rooted premolars were divided into 4 groups: customized or noncustomized glass fiber post, with or without mechanical cycling. The noncustomized posts were cemented in their original state to prepared canals, while the customized posts were modified with composite resin according to the geometry of the root canal. The specimens in the mechanical cycling groups were positioned at a 45-degree angle in an electromechanical fatigue testing machine and subjected to loading with a steel tip with a 4-mm diameter for 1,200,000 cycles at 50 N. After the specimens were prepared according to the appropriate group protocol, they were sectioned into thirds, and HM and E_IT values of the resin cement and dentin underlying the bonding interface were determined using an ultramicrohardness tester under a load of 5 mN. A 2-way repeated-measures analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey test was performed. For resin cement in the cervical region, the highest HM and E_IT values were observed in the noncustomized group after mechanical cycling. Similarly, in the underlying dentin, specimens in the noncustomized group after mechanical cycling had the highest HM values in the cervical region. Therefore, customization of glass fiber posts with composite resin is not essential for bonding to intraradicular dentin.