Study on Wear Resistance of Artificial Teeth

Composite resin teeth have a greater wear resistance than acrylic resin teeth and 3D-printed resin teeth suggests a recent study published in the International Dental Journal.

Study Aim

This study aimed to assess the 3-body wear of prefabricated and 3D-printed artificial denture teeth. Four groups of artificial teeth were used:

• 3D-printed polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) teeth (PR)
• PMMA (Gnathostar, GN)
• PMMA (SR Orthotyp PE, SR)
• Nanohybrid composite (SR Phonares NHC, PH)

The 3-body wear test was performed using a steatite ceramic antagonist in a chewing simulator with 750,000 cycles, temperature 23 ± 2 ˚C, and force of 50 N. The abrasive medium was composed of ground millet seeds and white rice mixed with distilled water. The teeth were 3D-scanned before and after the wear test. The 3D images were assessed for teeth wear by measuring the volumetric (3D wear) and the vertical (2D wear) substance loss. The one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey post hoc test was used to statistically obtain the data analysis.

Results

Maximum 3D wear was observed in the PR (51.05 ± 4.53 mm³), followed by GN (20.22 ± 6.29 mm³) and SR (12.12 ± 6.29 mm³) artificial teeth. Minimum wear occurred in the PH teeth (6.24 ± 0.87 mm³).

The analytical differences amongst the groups were statistically significant (P < .05) except between PH and SR teeth.

For 2D wear measurement, the maximum was seen in the GN teeth (6.29 ± 1.64 mm), followed by PR (5.04 ± 0.83 mm) and then SR (4.53 ± 0.87 mm). The PH teeth (3.09 ± 0.68 mm) again showed minimum wear.

Statistically, amongst the groups, the major observable differences (P < .05) were between PH and GN, PH and PR, and SR and GN.

Composite resin teeth had a greater wear resistance than acrylic resin teeth and 3D-printed resin teeth, both of which were comparable. Due to the advancement of digital workflows, manufacturers should devote effort to enhancing 3D-printed teeth.

Reference

Amna S. Al Saadi, Hatem M. El-Damanhoury, Nadia Khalifa, 2D and 3D Wear Analysis of 3D Printed and Prefabricated Artificial Teeth, International Dental Journal, 2022, ISSN 0020-6539, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.identj.2022.10.002.

Keywords

Composite, resin teeth, greater, wear, resistance, acrylic, resin, teeth, 3D-printed resin teeth, Amna S. Al Saadi, Hatem M. El-Damanhoury, Nadia Khalifa, International Dental Journal