The effect of preparation design on fracture resistance of endodontically treated maxillary premolars restored with lithium disilicate computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing endocrowns: An in vitro study

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the effect of preparation design on fracture resistance (FR) of endodontically treated maxillary premolars restored with lithium disilicate (LDS) endocrowns fabricated by the computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology.

Materials and methods: In this in vitro, experimental study, 30 sound maxillary premolars were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 10) of control (no preparation), endocrown preparation with butt-joint design without ferrule, and endocrown preparation with ferrule (shoulder design with 1 mm height). After restoration fabrication and cementation, the teeth underwent thermocycling, were mounted with 45° angle, and subjected to compressive load in a universal testing machine to measure their FR. The mode of failure was also determined under a stereomicroscope. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α =0.05).

Results: The shoulder group showed the highest FR (1768.98 ± 386.1 N). The difference in FR was statistically significant among the three groups (P < 0.05). Pairwise comparisons revealed that the shoulder group had significantly higher FR than the butt-joint (P = 0.001) and control (P = 0.009) groups. However, the difference in FR between the butt-joint and control groups was not significant (P = 0.75). The mode of failure was not significantly different among the three groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Preparation design had a significant effect on FR of endodontically treated maxillary premolars restored with LDS CAD/CAM Endocrowns, such that addition of a short axial wall in shoulder group significantly increased the FR of endocrowns.