Objective: We sought to examine the clinical conditions under which 25 endodontically treated teeth underwent vertical root fracture (VRF) and to relate this condition to the time elapsed from endodontic treatment to fracture.
Study design: This was a retrospective study in which we reviewed 25 case histories of patients with postendodontic VRF and studied the effect of various pretreatment and posttreatment factors as they related to VRF.
Results and conclusions: The mean time to VRF was 54 months; this was not significantly influenced by the presence or absence of prior restoration or by the presence or absence of a crown fitting. The use of a prefabricated, cylindrical, cemented intraradicular retainer increased the time between endodontics and VRF. Teeth restored with conventional amalgam took significantly longer to undergo VRF than those restored with composite or bonded amalgam. In contrast, amalgam-restored teeth suffered more coronal fractures before VRF than did teeth in the other 2 groups.