RESUMO
PURPOSE: To determine, in a 3-year clinical trial, whether tooth type and ferrule significantly affect the survival of pulpless teeth restored with fiber posts. METHODS: A sample of 87 teeth in 87 patients (32 men and 55 women, age ranged from 23 to 78) were restored using Snowpost: 34 incisors, 12 canines, 25 premolars and 16 molars. The posts were cemented with RelyXUnicem and the core was made with a resin composite (Dentocore Automix). Every tooth was covered with a metal-ceramic or all ceramic crown. Two experimental groups, according to the presence or absence of ferrule, were defined: A) 45 teeth with ferrule (>2 mm height); and B) 42 teeth without ferrule (<2 mm height). Patients were reevaluated every 6 months. RESULTS: 14 of the total restorations failed (16.1%). The failure modes were caries (n=4), post fracture (n=4), root fracture (n=2), and marginal gap, post cement failure, crown cement failure, and periapical lesion (n= 1 respectively). In Group A the failure observed was 6.67% and in Group B it was 26.20%. The log-rank test showed statistically significant differences between both groups. According to the type of tooth, the incisors were the teeth with the highest failure rate (73.52%), but Chi-square test showed no statistically significant differences among the four tooth types, perhaps because of the low number of the sample.
