Dental Materials

Understanding the properties of dentin and enamel

When characterizing the mechanical properties of replacement materials it is always important to understand the behaviour of native materials.  The ElectroForce® 3200 and ElectroForce 3330 test instruments have been used extensively in biomedical materials testing applications, such as the mechanical characterization of dentin and enamel.  Examples of these materials testing applications include cantilever beam tests to better understand the fatigue properties of dentin^*, 4-point bend tests^{^} and fatigue crack growth^# to understand how the properties of dentin change as a result of aging and hydration.

Dental composites, restoratives, and adhesives

Over the years, the aesthetic value of dental composites and restoratives, such as resins, filling materials, cements and porcelains, has improved.  However, it is also important to ensure that the dental materials used for restoration also provide sufficient mechanical integrity to ensure long-term performance.  Bose provides materials testing solutions that can be used to test and characterize dental materials that are used for reshaping teeth, filling cavities, and creating full or partial ceramic crowns.

The bond strength of a dental adhesives is another important property that can be tested using an ElectroForce test system.  When combined with a veneer one can determine whether delamination will occur during repeated loading of the construct.

Key Testing Performance Benefits

^*Nalla RK, Kinney JH, Marshall SJ, Ritchie RO. "On the in vitro fatigue behavior of human dentin: Effect of mean stress." J Dent Res 83(3) (2004) : 211-215.
^{^}Arola D, Reprogel RK. "Effects of aging on the mechanical behavior of human dentin." Biomaterials 26 (2005) : 4051–4061.
^#Bajaj D, Sundaram N, Nazari A, Arola D. "Age, dehydration and fatigue crack growth in dentin," Biomaterials 27 (2006) : 2507–2517.