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Opdam NJM, Roeters JJM et al. J Endod 2008; 34: 808–811

The aim of this practice-based study, carried out by one operator, was to determine the outcome of restoring cracked teeth with either a directly-placed bonded resin composite restoration with or without cuspal coverage. Some of the data was obtained by telephone interview. Forty-one patients who had teeth with cracked cusps were randomly assigned to one of two groups. At the end of the 7-year observation period, regardless of restoration, a quarter of teeth still demonstrated increased sensitivity. Survival analysis showed that none of the cuspal coverage restorations had failed although those without cuspal coverage had an annual failure rate of 6% (P = 0.008 in body of the text, 0.009 in the abstract). However, when looking at tooth survival and pulp vitality, there was no difference between the different treatment approaches.