DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2018.v05i02.007

Pages: 87-92

The aim was to compare in vitro the fracture strength of conservative versus traditional access cavity design assessed in maxillary first premolars teeth. The null hypothesis tested was that there is no difference in fracture strength of sound premolars, premolars with conservative and those with traditional access cavities. Thirty extracted human intact maxillary first premolars were extracted for orthodontic reasons assigned to Traditional access Cavity (TAC), Conservative Access Cavity (CAC) and Sound Control (SC) groups (N=10/group/type). TAC groups were prepared with pulp chamber de-roofing and straight line access. For CAC a soffit and pericervical-dentin were maintained. Working length was determined and canals were left un-obturated and mounted in self-cured acrylic resin molds for testing. Specimens were then tested with a compression testing machine and fracture force data were recorded in Newton for analysis. Data were normally distributed; therefore One-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey tests were used for analysis. The software R was used for statistical analysis. Results showed fracture load for CAC was significantly higher (PValue = 0.0297226) compared to TAC groups. The study concluded that Maxillary first premolars after preservation of pericervical dentine and soffit were found to have higher fracture strength compared to teeth with traditional straight-line access.