The purpose of this study was to compare the load bearing capacity of fiber-reinforced and unreinforced computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) fabricated fixed dental prostheses.
Fixed dental prostheses were fabricated with CAD/CAM from 3 experimental fiber-reinforced composite resin blocks, 1 experimental composite resin block, and 1 commercially available composite resin block. The experimental fiber-reinforced composite resin was prepared by mixing dimethacrylate resin with filler particles of BaO silicate and E-glass fiber. Different ratios of resin, filler, and fiber were used to fabricate specimens measuring 15.5 ¡Á19 ¡Á 39 mm, which were allocated to 5 different groups (n=8) and statically loaded until final fracture. Statistical analyses were calculated according to final fracture values. A 1-way ANOVA and the Tukey post hoc multiple comparison test were used (¦Á=.05).
All groups showed significantly different load-bearing capacities (P<.001). Experimental randomly oriented fiber-reinforced composite resin blocks revealed the highest load-bearing capacity (2163 ¡À246 N), whereas commercial composite resin blocks showed the lowest (1290 ¡À172 N).
Fixed partial dental prostheses consisting of experimental fiber-reinforced composite resin blocks showed higher load-bearing capacities than did unreinforced composite resin blocks.