Study on micro-hardness and wear resistance of human tooth at different depth / 生物医学工程学杂志

ABSTRACT

Micro-hardness of human teeth was measured by micro hardnessmentry at different depths i.e. enamal, enamelo-dentinal junction and dentin. A simulated dental friction test was conducted of respectively in these three areas, opposing pure titanium ball under a modified fretting machine. The results showed that micro-hardness is 320.40 +/- 22.77 HV of enamal, 232.26 +/- 32.31 HV of enamelo-dentinal junction, and 61.17 +/- 9.42 HV of dentin (P < 0.05). Wear depth is 17.33 +/- 0.58 microns of enamal, 49.44 +/- 16.47 microns of enamelo-dentinal junction and 95.20 +/- 15.07 microns of dentin(P < 0.05). Wear resistance of enamal is much better than that of dentin's. This preliminary investigation should be very useful in clinical applications.