EFFECT OF FIBER REINFORCEMENT ON THE FLEXURE STRENGTH OF NANOFILLED-RESIN COMPOSITE

Aim: the purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate the effect of woven glass fiber layering on flexural strength of nanofil composite resin. material and method: sixty specimens were prepared standard metallic mold (25x2x2 mm) prepared according to iso 4049 for flexural strength. the specimens were divided into four groups (n: 15) as follows; flowable (filtek flow) + nanofil composite (filtek supreme) (gr i), nanofil composite (gr ii), flowable +woven glass fiber (everstick net) + nanofil composite (gr iii), woven glass fiber + nanofil composite (gr iv).the specimens were stored in distilled water at 370 c for 24 hour, thenevaluated with three-point bending test using universal testing machine. data were analysed using kruskall wallis and mann whitney u tests. three samples from each group were examined by sem. result:the mean flexural strength values of the groups i, ii, iii and iv were 93.6±4, 85.5±6, 107±9 and 101±5 respectively. glass fiber-reinforced nanofil composite applied with flowable composite (gr iii) exhibited higher flexural strength values in comparison to the other groups (p<0.05 while control group (gr ii) exhibited the lowest). significant differences were found between flexural strength of control and the other groups (p<0.05). in sem evaluation, it was detected that in fiber-reinforced groups (groups iii and iv) fractured area was limited by the fiber in the stressed region. conclusion: within the limitations of this in vitro study it is concluded that glass fiber reinforcement improves the flexural strength of the nanofill composite. in sem evaluation after fracturing, glass-fiber reinforcement prevented crack propagation.