Approaching biomimetics in dental restorations via photonics

Issue title: Special Issue on Biophotonics: Sensing and treatment with ionizing and non-ionizing radiation

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kishen, Anil | Asundi, Anand

Affiliations: Biomedical Engineering Research Center, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Republic of Singapore

Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Anil Kishen, Biomedical Engineering Research Center, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Fax: +65 67912274; E-mail: ekishen@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract: It is established that a natural system balances functional requirements with the anatomical optimizations it has achieved. Though such process of functional adaptation is recognized in bone tissue, any mode of functional adaptation in dental tissue is yet to be understood. In this study a three-dimensional digital photoelasticity is conducted to evaluate the nature of stress distribution in the sagittal aspect and the cross-sections of the dentine structure. Later, a fluoroscopic X-ray microscopic analysis and a microindentation experiments, are performed on different sections obtained from the sagittal and cross-sections of the dentine. These experiments aided in correlating the multi-plane pattern of mineralization and the spatial gradients in elastic modulus in the original dentine structure with the three-dimensional stress distribution in photoelastic models. This study highlights dentine structure as a biologically graded structure to functional loads.

Keywords: three-dimensional stresses, mineralization, elastic modulus, dentine, teeth

Journal: Journal of X-Ray Science and Technology, vol. 10, no. 3-4, pp. 153-166, 2002