Restoring severely decayed primary anterior teeth using omega posts and fibre post systems a case report

Caries in very young children known as Early Childhood Caries (ECC) may be defined according to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry “as the presence of one or more decayed, missing (due to caries), or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child 71 months of age or younger”. Early childhood caries mainly occurs in maxillary primary anterior teeth and if untreated it can lead to pulpal involvement and destruction of coronal tooth structure, these teeth are difficult to restore. In majority of cases, the destruction of the tooth structure involves almost the entire crown, leaving just the root and little crown portion, hence, only dentine left for bonding of the restorative materials

The newly introduced fibre posts are aesthetic, easy to use and are available in different sizes. In the present study, for purpose of comparison, both types of posts (Fibre and omega shaped stainless steel wire posts) were used to restore the grossly destructed primary maxillary incisors. This also ensured that both types of posts being in the same oral cavity would be subjected to similar dietary patterns, oral hygiene conditions and occlusal forces. Fibre posts proved to have better retention, which can be due to the chemical and mechanical bonding to the tooth surface. So the fibre post systems seems to be a suitable alternative for the omega posts, due to the better retention and more aesthetic appearance as compared to omega shaped stainless steel wire posts.

Restoring teeth after endodontic procedures is requisite for multiple reasons and this can be achieved with ease if proper retentive post is selected. This case gives us an idea that the retention of fibre posts is better than the omega shaped stainless steel wire post as well as fibre posts are better aesthetically.