Fatigue Performance and Stress Distribution of Endodontically Treated Premolars Restored with Direct Bulk-fill Resin Composites

Purpose: To investigate the fatigue performance and stress distribution of endodontically treated maxillary premolars with occlusal (O), mesio-occlusal (MO), or mesio-occluso-distal (MOD) cavities filled directly with bulk-fill composite.
Materials and Methods: Besides the intact teeth (control group), sixty sound maxillary first premolars, standardized by size and morphology, were subjected to root canal treatment and randomly allocated to three groups throughout cavity preparations (O/MO/MOD). All cavities were restored with a bulk-fill composite (Tetric N-Ceram Bulk fill) and universal adhesive (Tetric N-Bond Universal) using etch-and-rinse mode. Half of the specimens of each group underwent 20,000 thermocycles (5°C–55°C). All specimens were subjected to a 50-N load perpendicular to their buccal bevels on the palatal cusps for 1,200,000 cycles. The survival curve and fracture mode were analyzed by log-rank and Fisher’s exact tests, respectively. Finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted to simulate the working condition of premolars with O/MO/MOD cavities. The von Mises stress and the first principal stress were calculated for three FEA models.
Results: Premolars with O cavity restorations exhibited better stress distributions than did those with MO and MOD cavity restorations. Compared to the intact premolars, no significant difference was detected in the fatigue performance of O/MO/MOD restorations, regardless of whether they underwent thermocycling. Only one specimen presented unrestorable fracture, while the rest of the fractured premolars were restorable.
Conclusion: The cavity design of endodontic premolars restored with a bulk-fill composite has no influence on the stress distribution or fatigue survival, with a biomechanical performance similar to that of an intact tooth. Keywords: maxillary premolar, endodontical treatment, bulk-fill composite, fatigue performance, finite element analysis.