Journal of Dental Research, Vol 60, 1301-1310, Copyright © 1981 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Determination of stress patterns in root-filled teeth incorporating various dowel designs
D. T. Davy, G. L. Dilley and R. F. Krejci
A theoretical investigation has utilized the finite element technique to
analyze mechanical stress patterns in a reconstructed maxillary central
incisor. A series of designs for endodontic dowel posts incorporated into
prosthesis has been comparatively evaluated. For the load condition
considered, the results show that minor changes in the stress patterns are
produced by the post diameter, length, and taper variations considered. 1.
In general, larger post diameters decrease the maximum stresses for both
the cylindrical and tapered designs. Variation of diameters over a 15%
range produced stress variations of about 8%. 2. The effect of post length
on the highest stresses in bending was less than the diameter changes. The
real effect of the length changes was to change the location of the stress
concentrations that occurred at the post apex in all cases. 3. The effect
of taper was found to be slight if the local tapered-post diameter was
comparable to the cylindrical post diameter in the high-stress region. 4.
For the load considered in this study, the tapered-post design experienced
slightly higher tensile and slightly lower shear stresses than the
cylindrical post. 5. Using the peak stresses in the dentin and at the
dentin-post interface as a criterion, the cylindrical post with the largest
diameter is the best design among those examined.
