Comparative Analysis of Two Methods of Assessment Wear of Dental Materials

Wear of dental materials used for permanent dental fillings has a significant impact on their lifetime. Wear products generated during chewing process involving direct tribological contact between a composite and tooth enamel can cause damage not only to enamel itself but also to the entire tooth structure thus affecting the patient’s the health. It is essential therefore to assess the process of wear rates as well as the usefulness and effectiveness of the method used to measure these values. As there are a number of different methods used to quantify the loss of dental materials subjected to friction, eg.: scanning digital 3D models of dental casts, confocal microscope scanning or profilographometer measurements, the authors chose to analyze two selected research methods using confocal microscopy and profilographometer to assess their effectiveness. Two commercially available composite dental materials, i.e. ES and FFE previously subjected to friction tests in contact with human dental enamel, were used for the analysis.