Effect of EDTA conditioning upon the retention of fibre posts luted with resin cements

Aim  To determine if a final rinse with EDTA improves the short‐term in‐tooth retentive strength of adhesively luted fibre‐reinforced composite posts. Methodology  Six different commercial fibre post systems were tested. Post spaces in extracted human anterior teeth were irrigated with either 6% NaOCl or 6% NaOCl followed by 17% EDTA. Posts were luted using the manufacturer’s recommended bonding agent and luting cement. Two different sizes of post were tested for each post system. After 24 h of storage, the retentive strength of the post to the tooth (14 per group, 336 total) was tested using a pull‐out technique. Three‐way anova and the Student–Newman–Kuels test were used to test the effects of irrigation regimen, post size and post brand on the retentive strength of the fibre post. Results  Almost every sample failed at the interface between dentine and luting cement. Irrigation method did not have any significant effect ( P  > 0.14) for any group other than ParaPost Fibre White ( P  < 0.001). The overall retention of a post appeared to be correlated to the amount of surface texture on the post; the smooth ICEPost was the least retentive brand, the textured FibreKor and the ParaPost Fibre White posts were moderately retained, and the threaded Flexi‐Post Fibre and the Flexi‐Flange Fibre posts were the most retentive brands tested. For all brands, larger diameter posts were more retentive than smaller diameter posts ( P  < 0.008). Conclusions  A final rinse of EDTA did not improve the short‐term retention of fibre posts except for ParaPost Fibre White.