Comparative study on stress analysis in human molar tooth between metallic and nonmetallic dental filling material

Abstract

Dental filling is regarded as proven dental restoration method in dealing with partial missing of tooth crown due to caries or trauma. This study analyses the reliability and durability of materials for dental filling using finite element analysis. Specifically, it determines the stress induced at a dental filling due to occlusal load. Two filling depths were simulated: (a) filling depth in enamel and (b) filling depth in enamel/dentine on top of molar tooth. Dental filling made of glass ionomer cement (GIC), composite, and amalgam (as a reference material) which represented metallic and non-metallic filling materials were chosen as the materials for this study. A 100 MPa pressure was applied on the dental filling to represent an occlusal load. The results obtained were the stress (magnitude and distribution) for enamel/amalgam, enamel/GIC, enamel/composite, enamel/dentine/amalgam, enamel/dentine/GIC, and enamel/dentine/composite. It was found that the maximum induced stress was higher for enamel/dentine depth while there is no significant difference in stress magnitude for all dental filling materials.