Impact of endodontic post material on longitudinal changes in interproximal bone level: a randomized controlled pilot trial

Objectives Aim was to evaluate the impact of glass fiber versus titanium endodontic posts on the interproximal bone level around severely damaged endodontically treated teeth. Materials and methods Thirty-eight participants of a randomized controlled trial on glass fiber ( n = 18) and titanium post-endodontic restorations ( n = 20) received radiographs at two different times after post placement (T0 = <12 months and T1 = 36–72 months after post placement). A total of 76 radiographs were analyzed with an image-editing software. Medians of changes in mesial and distal interproximal bone level (∆MBL, ∆DBL) were calculated and tested for statistical significance with respect to post material using Mann-Whitney U test ( p < 0.05). Impact of post material on bone level changes was assessed in multilevel mixed-effect linear regression models. Results The mean observation period was 54 months for glass fiber and 50 months for titanium posts. Interproximal bone loss was small in both groups during the study period with no significant differences between groups (glass-fiber group, ∆MBL = − 0.03 mm and ∆DBL = − 0.06 mm; titanium group, ∆MBL = − 0.07 mm and ∆DBL = − 0.17 mm; both p > 0.05). Overall, impact of post material on bone loss was almost negligible with a nonsignificant difference between materials of 0.10 mm during the entire study period. Conclusion The rigidity of endodontic post material has no impact on the level of alveolar bone support of severely damaged endodontically treated teeth. Clinical relevance Post-endodontic restorations of severely damaged teeth can achieve steady levels of periodontal bone support as a parameter of periodontal health, irrespective of post material.